Sketchbook
by Skitts
Summary: Naminé escapes from real life through madeup characters, but now the border between dreams and reality seems a little hazy. How could she fall in love with a drawing she made? .:AU, now NaminéAxel:. .:Complete:.
1. oo : ScRiBbLe

_A/N: Is not owning Kingdom Hearts._

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"P**r**_olog_**u**e"

x. Scribble o Child's Drawing o Meaningless o Confusion o Mess o Broken .x

**-x-x-x-**

She loved her art so much, put so much of her passion and her very _being_ into it, creating a soothing atmosphere around her. Teeth nipped gently at crimson bottom lip, as different coloured pastel-based crayons were picked up. Hues and tones spread across the white paper, so bright it stabbed the eyes with needles, light radiating from the surface.

The blonde boy next to her tilted his head slightly as he stared into the depths of her picture. True, it was only two dimensional, a drawing, nothing more. It would never be anything more. However, it was beautiful, capturing so many different feelings and emotions. Reds soared into orange and yellow flames, blues and indigos rose up in tidal waves.

"Who are they?" asked Roxas softly, indicating the three teenagers sharing the same space in the drawing. He had to ask her quietly, because sometimes she became so absorbed in her creations that loud noises distracted her and made her irritable. She only ever got angry and defensive over her pictures. Some would go as far to call them master-pieces.

After a long pause, Roxas had decided that the girl wasn't going to answer, so he was startled when the girl finally decided his question was worthy of a response. She smudged and blended the girl's crimson hair with one finger, chalk dust settling on her finger-tips as she spoke. "I … I have no idea," she answered truthfully. "I guess… They're just people from my dreams." A sigh, as she stared down, as if trying to fall into the lives of the children. It almost made Roxas shudder from the longing of her gaze, deciding that it probably wasn't healthy to wish for something that badly. It wasn't like she didn't have friends, why should she want so badly to find a home in the paradise she'd made? "Like invisible friends… I have names for them," she smiled, blowing chalk residue from the picture, revealing in a swirling cloud of dust their lives. The crimson-haired girl bent over the spiky-haired boy with a sheepish grin on his face, arms linked behind her back. Their silver-haired companion was stood alone, a waterfall of colours rising up around him, the morning sun radiating like a halo around the boy and girl receding into darkness over the isolated one. It looked deep and symbolic, and good … a little too good for a girl only fifteen years old. "The girl's called Kairi, I call the brunette," she indicated to said brunette in the drawing, "I call the brunette Sora, and that's Riku."

"Hmn… Is it meant to be deep in that mind-warping way? You know, that confuses the hell out of you?" asked the blonde-haired boy in his usual tactful way. His friend grinned at the bluntness of his statement, contrasting deeply with her style of speech. Always meandering like a lake, beating around the bush.

"Not really… Roxas, have you ever thought you were living in the wrong picture?" she asked suddenly, looking around from her perch on, and was one Naminé's favourite haunts for drawing and doodling and scribbling. It always touched Roxas when she invited him to come and sit with her – even though she was usually pretty mute when she became engrossed in her picture-book fantasies. Watching her draw was enough. It was a gift to watch her – she was going to become famous with talent like that one day.

"No… I'm happy here. Aren't you?" he asked, tilting his head. Naminé wasn't exactly a naturally depressed girl, but she had these strange fantasies, sometimes she claimed she could hear other people reaching out to her… It wasn't normal behaviour.

"Yeah… But sometimes I feel I was dumped in the wrong place, and my life and my heart," she stabbed at the picture, smudging it slightly. "My heart belongs with them. Don't say I'm crazy…" she sighed, swinging her legs like a little girl off the edge of the tree. "Because my parents say that enough…"

At the mention of 'parents', Roxas' head snapped up, a sudden look of distress flitting across his face. "Oh, crrapp… I told them I'd be back home … half an hour ago!" he proclaimed to anybody who would listen, consulting his watch hastily. "I'm sorry, Nami, I've to go…"

She didn't reply however, her gaze still fixed thoughtfully on her 'art', and this time Roxas did physically shudder. There was something wrong with Naminé, not in a bad way, but… Mystery shrouded her like a fog, and it didn't matter how close he got to her because he'd never be able to crack the puzzle that ran through her mind.

o.x.o

Naminé lay on her bed, flipped on her stomach, doodling around aimlessly in her favourite sketch-book with her lucky pencil. They were child's scribbles, doodles lacking any real skill in them, as lines swept across the paper.

If she concentrated hard enough, she could fall away from the hostile environment around her. She could ignore the yells from downstairs, of her drunken father who would be swaggering about, her mother cowering. Her mother would tell him anxiously to be quiet, they'd wake Naminé up.

It was almost laughable about how they tried to conceal their falling-apart relationship from her, treating her like some silly little kid. They were so blinded by hatred for each other they couldn't comprehend that she was growing up. She wasn't their angel anymore, and she knew all too well what was going on. And yet, after every drunken assault her father launched on her mother, he would always buy her some flowers or something pretty and claim he would never do it again. Would never touch a beer again – but it never lasted. Her mother was stupid to believe all the lies.

That was why she drew so much, created imaginary friends from her head that her pencil transported onto the paper. Her room was scattered with pictures, most of them revolving around the girl and her two friends. She felt so familiar to Kairi, Sora and Riku, but somewhere deep inside told her they weren't real. She had a bad home life so she was trying to escape in fantasies, and maybe they had every right to call her crazy.

Sighing mentally at the harsh sounds of muffled screams, she continued her picture, her doodle, slowly turning into a boy. Working out all of her fears that eventually her mother would crumple and wouldn't be able to take it any more, she poured her soul into this figment of her imagination. He wasn't one of the boys she usually drew.

Hair was wild and messy in spikes like blood, eyes neon green that seemed to sear into the soul, ripping you apart. Black tattoos were etched under both of them. His clothes were dominantly black like he was constantly attending some funeral, all of Naminé's pain reflecting in him. The way he stood, dressed, facial expression, just showed he was somebody who was empty. Who tried to be happy and put on a false act, just like her, to fool friends into thinking everything was fine. He looked so unfulfilled, or like some tragedy had befallen him.

She smiled softly, looking upon her scribbled drawing. When her heart called for another outlet for her pain, she'd draw him again, properly.

The screams from downstairs had died away, and she heard a door slam – her father had left again. Why did her mother put up with all the pain and abuse? He'd just gone off to get even more drunk and shout obscenities at more people and get into more fights.

"I'll call you Axel," she said lightly, singing her name gracefully in the bottom corner of the scribbled mess. Axel, her new 'friend'. However, sometimes she wished her friends could speak back to her, could comfort her, weren't just pencil and paper.

Were something more other than childish dreams.

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: Hurrah for creative impulse . This is another story that will become AkuRoku, although Naminé will be very, very involved in this. Will probably not be very long, and will be lovely angst (I'm an angst writer) and romance. Maybe a little bit of humour will be found in places, too, despite the seriousness of it all. Alright, even in the prologue clues are given for the plot. Guess where the drawing versions of Sora, Kairi and Riku are. I DARE YOU. Uh, yeah… I'm wondering over who to pair Naminé with, any suggestions? I was thinking Naminé/Kairi, even though I'm really not a big fan of that pairing. I don't like it much. However, in AU contexts I find it OK . Each chapter will be named after a colour, apart from this one. I want at least _two _reviews before I continue. Two. Peace out, and goodbye! _


	2. o1 : ReD

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"R**e**d"

_x. Fire o New Day o Horizon o Beginnings o Dawn o Love? .x_

**-x-x-x-**

"Roxas, stop picking at your food," chastised his mother, however her tones were light and airy, inflicting a sense that she didn't really mind. However, it is widely known that an over-protective mother's favourite hobby is to pick over her son's eating habits and bed-times and various other things. They always say it's so their 'darling' little prince or princess will never get any 'nasty' habits when their older and have a good childhood, but Roxas always thought it was to get in a cheap dig about his hair, under the pretence it was a big issue and she 'cared a lot' about him. If she cared so much she'd let him style it however he wanted, God damnit.

Sighing, the teenage boy speared a piece of fish – always fish, but to more precise, it was haddock – on his pointed fork, and glared down at it in distaste. His eyes with flecked with mutiny, as if he was half-thinking of becoming a rebel and throwing the fork out of the open window. He, however, cared a lot about his mother, Rikku, and didn't want to hurt her feelings like most teenage boys. So he swallowed the piece of fish, a look spreading across his face that made it appear he'd been eating rat poison.

"Good Lord, Roxy, whatever is wrong? You come home late, and you normally _inhale_ your food as if it's in danger of dancing off your plate," said Rikku, her features cracking into a warm smile. "You can't tell me your not hungry – you're a growing boy and you need nutrients and fish is good, healthy brain food."

Living on an island, there was always an abundant supply of fish. And whenever he refused to eat it his mother or father always came up with the witty response: "its brain food". It was so over-used, and it didn't matter how much of the damned stuff he ate, he was still usually placed second-to-bottom in most school tests. He didn't think one more piece of the hateful stuff would turn him into a genius. Nobody could get better scores in any exam than Naminé anyway, no matter _how_ much fish they ate – she was little less than a super-child.

The mention of the blonde haired girl's name made him feel slightly un-easy. She sure had been acting weird today, even weirder than she normally was. It had unnerved him with the wistful looks she shot her 'imaginary' friends. He never thought she was **that** lonely. Maybe it was worry about Naminé, tinged with a faint feeling of indigestion that made if hard to swallow down the 'delicacy' today. He was her best friend, the one she confided in and spilled out the rambling contents of her head. Like brother sister, but without all the fighting.

"I'm not hungry," he said truthfully, pushing his plate away slowly, like in any second it would grow fangs and bite him, inflicting him with rabies. Worry and indigestion did not create a happy feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was almost as if the dog he feared his plate would turn into was inside him, gnawing at his insides like it was a chew-toy.

Rikku sighed and proceeded to clear the table, not bothering to pursue the argument any longer. She would've put in some more playful digs about his attitude and how dare he blatantly refuse to eat food she'd toiled endlessly to make, but she could tell her son wasn't in the mood. She was a mother, she had an instinct to figure out if Roxas' day had been crappy, worrying or not.

Roxas smiled softly at her in a moment of family bonding, glad that she'd recognised he didn't desire food at the moment, as he got up from his dining room chair and sat in front of the T.V. There were never any good shows on in the afternoon, he thought glumly, starting to play a sport he often took part in when he was feeling lazy 'channel changing'. It wasn't fair, even though they had Sky and Cable half the channels were fuzzy black and white waterfalls of dots and the other half just showed the news, politics, bad soaps and old re-runs of stuff that had probably been good the first fifty times he saw it.

"_Following the accident a large influx of families have moved out to…_" droned the boring voice of the man with the bad wig, making Roxas frown. On the news everything was so repetitive – somebody died, gang murdered defenceless woman in the street, young girl got raped. Only evil sadists watched the news so they could laugh about the misfortunes of somebody else. And Roxas wouldn't stoop to that level of getting entertainment – he changed the channel.

"_And so Jack attempts to design a suitable plan for his living room_," said the amazing annoying voice of a bouncy blonde woman. Maybe if Naminé became older and somehow managed to loose her depressed edge she'd end up like that scary woman, thought Roxas with a shudder. No, he liked Naminé as she was now – but maybe it was cruel to want her to stay the same because it made him feel easier around her? Either way, he didn't want to listen to Jack's problems for re-designing his house.

"_One thousand words, they'll haunt you forever…_" chorused the lovely melodic voice of new super-star Lenne. Just Lenne, for most musical artists didn't bother giving out their last name – it was something do with image. Roxas shifted his position on the sofa, clutching a cushion in his arms. It wasn't music he was meant to like – it was very, very girly. But he didn't care – it didn't have anything to do with death (or maybe it did and death was a subliminal message) and nothing to do with houses. And that good enough for him.

x.o.x

"Stop picking at it," hissed an annoyed female voice, as the groups of people traipsed through the streets in a strange procession, being led by the so-called 'welcome committee'. It was a small party of people, a woman called Aerith shepherding them all forwards, shoes making dull noises on the ground. He'd hoped that it wouldn't be midnight when they arrived – because they were shrouded in darkness it seemed like they were a disgrace and were being smuggled in. But maybe he was just reading into things too deeply. And Aerith had been kind in explaining it would be easier if it was night when they were brought to their new 'home' so they wouldn't disrupt anybody.

"Why? They're _my_ clothes," he replied snippily, other hushed conversations drifting around them, as not to wake everybody up. Blatantly disregarding his mother's wishes, he began to play around with the loose thread on his jeans again, making her scowl angrily. He was just using it as something to vent out all the worry on – yes, he was worried, even though he never let it show.

"And who pays for them?" snarled back an annoyed voice, sounding like a lion ready to pounce on some poor defenceless zebra and eat it. Wait, did lions eat zebras? The boy idly wondered, as somebody bumped into his elbow.

"Oh, hey, sorry. It's friggin hard to see in all this darkness," apologised a familiar voice, another female, but it was too young and lithe and happy to be linked to his mother. "Man, they really pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome here, huh? Not our fault we all got shipped to this son-of-a-bitching-rock."

He nodded, but then remembered she obviously couldn't see him in all the darkness rolling around them, and chose to answer verbally. "God, tell me about it, Kai," he grumbled. It was nice to have somebody to complain with who wasn't his mother, grinding her teeth together as he continued to pull away at the dark blue thread.

o.x.o

The early-morning sun glinted around to signify a new day in Destiny Islands, capturing the beach in a blend of colours and splendour, running down to meet the shore line. Down on the beach, a girl decked out in one of her many white sundresses – that he couldn't help thinking was just a little bit _too_ short, not that he had been staring like a pervert at her – walked along, her friend by her side. For once, her sketchbook wasn't in her hand, but a small charm shaped like a papou fruit, that she was swinging around from the chain, smiling as the light caught its yellow surfaces. She didn't look complete with that book, though, thought the boy, like her leg was missing or something. It was almost like an extra body part attached to her.

"Where's your book?" asked the blonde-haired boy curiously, scuffing a line into the sand with one of his trainers as he walked, creating a path. "You always bring it with you."

The girl shrugged, playing around with the strands of her blonde hair in a thoughtful manner. Naminé had done a lot of that lately – thinking, mulling live over. Maybe it was a phase all teenagers went through, but she'd been stuck in that frame of mind … pretty much all her life. "I've got this gut instinct I won't need it today," she explained simply, although it wasn't much of an explanation.

"Oh… Right… So, did you hear about Lenne? Apparently she's going to do a concert here, in our sleepy island. I know you like her music just as much as I do," he grinned, trying to erase that little-lost-girl look from her face. He was trying to amend for his thoughts yesterday that she should be depressed because that's how he was always used to her being, not that she knew this.

"Yeah… I want to get tickets, but my parents probably wouldn't let me go," she replied, the two of them starting to talk aimlessly about life, the universe and everything. The way two good friends would, the blonde haired girl certainly seeming less … mute today. Maybe she was excited about something, thought _Roxas idly. Maybe something was going to happen._

"Hey, Rikku told me today she'd heard on the radio some new families had moved here. She didn't get to hear it all, but apparently they'll be staying in the new industrial area part… You know?" Roxas didn't like the 'industrial' area of the island. It was a load of ugly buildings that stabbed up into sky, comprised of bleak cement and stone blocks. It was where most people worked, and the flats had been put there to encourage more people to come to the town. They were vast and large, and many, many people could be crammed into them.

"No… I don't have a T.V and the radio is too upsetting for me… But now you've told me, I'm looking forward to seeing them," she said, staring into the glistening centre of her lucky charm. She didn't buy it for herself, and supposed that some relative must have done a while ago.

x.o.x

"Tell him to stop BREATHING on me," hissed the irritated voice of a girl, voice quiet, as she turned her head with distaste at the boy next to her, snoring softly. It was these small noises he was making that had woken her up in the first place – she was a light sleeper. And now she was in a sleep-deprived bad mood, it had been hard to fall asleep anyway at all the changes going on around them.

"Okay, but I don't think it'll do much good," said a voice from the floor. Really, she could be such a drama queen sometimes. "Hey, you. Quit breathing on the princess." However, as the boy was still asleep, he obviously did not hear those words, and that made the girl scowl further.

"Oh, this is ridiculous. I'm not going to stay here in this cramped room," here she cast her gaze around the messy room the 'welcoming committee' had crammed them into, sleeping bodies scattered around. The buildings were _big_ but there were a lot of them. She sighed, a sour look of distaste on her face. "C'mon, we're going to explore this place. We never got to look around last time, it was too dark."

"I'm way ahead of you, princess," replied the lazy voice, the blurry figure standing up. "I'm getting claustrophobic in here," he complained, running a hand through his hair to tame it somewhat.

"Great. But, one more thing," she said, slipping from the mattress she shared with the other boy – another boy, didn't they CARE if he had bad intentions towards her, although she knew him and he wouldn't – and standing up, making her way over to the door. It was locked, but she could probably pick it with the hairpin skewered into her falling-apart, bed-head style. The responsible 'grown-ups' were entrusted with the keys to get in and out.

"Yes, princess?"

"Please stop calling me that. Please."

"Sure thing, princess."

"Fuck off."

o.x.o

Roxas and Naminé sat companionably in the sand, neither of them appearing to care if they messed up their clothes – who would wear their best outfits if the beach was on their doorstep, anyway? Their gaze was directed towards a ferocious on-land Blitzball tournament between Tidus and Wakka. Naminé wasn't sure how the on-land aspect of it worked, and she had no idea how it could be played with only two people, but she wasn't skilled in the knowledge of their stupid game.

"Oof. That's got to hurt," commented Roxas loosely, watching as Wakka accidentally slammed the ball into Tidus' unprotected face, the impact sending him crashing to the ground. Wakka looked alarmed, his hair seeming to stand on end – but it always looked like that – rushing forwards to help his 'friend in need'.

"Do they even know what they're doing?" asked the girl, her motherly instinct kicking in, as she appeared to want to dart forwards and take the ball off them and tell them not play such rough games.

"I dunno. Tidus says he's really good but I doubt that after he- woah!" cried Roxas, something completely unexpected happening in the game. The ball that a now-recovered Tidus had thrown into the air swooped down, only to be caught by … a complete stranger.

She was wearing tight-fitting clothing, looking rumpled like she'd been wearing them for a long time, pink and white being the main theme of her outfit, long copper hair swirling about her face. And on that face held a look of great triumph, ignoring the stares she was being given by Tidus and Wakka, turning back over her shoulder to look at the teenager beside her. His hair was a similar colour to hers, seeming to explode from his scalp, eyes bright green. He too had the same look of 'bedraggled-ness' about him.

"See, is that something a princess would do?" she asked, her loud voice easily carrying across the where Naminé and Roxas sat. "If I were a princess, I wouldn't afraid of breaking a nail," she proclaimed proudly, tossing the ball back with the air of an expert to Tidus, hitting him in the head, knocking him back into the sand. He'd been too busy gawping, and Roxas suspected he had been trying to (Shock! Horror! Not Tidus!) look up her skirt.

"You don't _have_ any nails to break," said the teenage boy, walking past Wakka and Tidus, lowly and pathetic in their presence. There was almost something menacing about them. "Princess."

"Don't call me fucking princess!" said the girl angrily, storming past her 'friend' who she seemed to be quite pissed off at. "Right, I am plonking my booty here," she said, and, true to her words, she sat down on the sand, not too far away from Roxas and Naminé.

"Alright then, angel."

"Isn't this getting old?" grumbled the girl, her 'friend' bending down to sit next to her. She turned her back on him, tracing intricate patterns in the sand with the tip of one finger, like Naminé did sometimes when she was bored.

Roxas turned his head back to the blonde-haired girl, wondering what her reaction to the very strange strangers were. He guessed it would have been shock, amusement, curiosity, something like that mixed in with a little of his own – a slight feeling of fear. He didn't expect _that_ look on her face. The one took from a horror film, mouth hanging open, blue eyes large; looking like if he popped them with a pin they'd explode and shower him with gunge.

"I … know … them…" she said softly, not daring to tear her gaze away from the light-hearted argument they were having. "I … know … them… They're the people from my dreams, the ones from my sketches! They're my drawings, sitting there…" Her voice was hushed so they didn't hear, didn't think she was insane, but she was beginning to doubt her own sanity at this point, as Roxas waved a hand in front of her eyes, trying to get her attention.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know their names; they're my drawings, _come alive_! It's … Kairi and Axel. Axel and Kairi – my creations!"

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: So, we meet Axel and Kairi, and Naminé knows them. What about the large group of people they were travelling with? Are they all drawings of Naminé's? Is it a coincidence or something more? Did they come directly from her sketchbook and were dumped there? Find out in next chapter. Yay, I've got my pairings sort of figured out. I don't think I'll go for AkuRoku after all, but Naminé x Axel, Kairi x Naminé and maybe faint hints of Sora x Kairi, because nobody does Naminé x Axel. And I don't think there's a single chapter fic about them… So, sorry for you hoping for AkuRoku … Roxas is just going to be Naminé's friend and will be mentioned a few times. Popstar Lenne is FFX-2 Lenne, yes. Lovely… Three more reviews for an update, please?_


	3. o2 : OrAnGe

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"O**r**_an_**g**e"

_x. Curses o Shrill o Acid o Aches o Dying Down o Setting Sun .x_

**-x-x-x-**

The boy and girl were still arguing animatedly, unaware of the 'strange' things Naminé had said, not seeming to notice that Wakka and Tidus and a gathering of some of the other locals had come to watch them. Nosy dog-walkers, little children come to play accompanied by adults; nobody could mind their own business anymore. They all watched with rapt attention like it was a movie or one of those corny soap operas, the two freaks. New people arriving to the island was a very talked-about event as it happened so rarely, and sometimes the new-comers were shunned aside and whispered about, names dragged through the mud. Now there were many, many new faces that were going to be appearing over the island and Roxas idly wondered how people would react. Some maybe with rage, a few with acceptance, others with turning backs. The people on the island _were_ nice and friendly – but only to each other. They worked as a community but only welcomed those they wanted to welcome, where generations of them had lived before. It was so petty. He was sure Rikku had mentioned that maybe as many as three-hundred people had moved in, all of them getting shoved in roughly wherever there was room. Next they'd end up camping in the sea-side shack or post-boxes, thought Roxas with mild amusement.

"Axe-ellllll, quit being such a jackass! For FIVE seconds!" pleaded the girl, turning her head. She probably knew how her friend would react, as he sat there, counting off the seconds on his fingers before he could be annoying again. He grinned, and then proceeded to tackle Kairi from behind, knocking her to the ground. "AXEL YOU JERK! YOU'VE RUINED MY HAIR!" she cried, getting up and choking out half the beach from her mouth, gagging on the grains of sand, staining her lips with tan. Self-consciously she raked her hands through her hair, making it look even worse, not that Axel would tell her that. She seemed to be satisfied it looked fine again, even if it didn't. He was kind and compassionate and didn't want to burst her happy bubble. "Why'd you do that!"

"Felt like it?" shrugged the red-head, scrambling back as Kairi attempted to hit him, not doubting her strength. She was tough for a girl and wouldn't stand for his antics – she even managed to scare Riku occasionally.

"Oh yeah? Well then maybe I'll 'feel' like doing THIS!" cried the angry girl, distressed. Her mood was not made any better when she could feel the stares of everybody burning into them like acid. Great – because she hung out with Axel, her popularity here in this new place was falling rapidly and she hadn't even introduced herself to anyone. And she probably looked like a gutter-girl, spitting out the sand, rubbing it from her blue eyes and tying to attack Axel. But she was mad – damnit, she was mad.

"I'm going to talk to them," said Naminé quietly, feeling a sudden burst of confidence flower up inside her. Or maybe it had been there all along, waiting for the possibility of true friends to water it into full bloom. That sounded very poetic, she thought with a small smile. She rolled the papou-fruit shaped charm around, squeezing it between the pads of her fingers like some sort of jagged-edged worry bead. One that made you worry even more about life when it pierced through your skin and let you bleed to death. Naminé's head, however, was hazy and spinning from her revelation that her drawings were _alive_.

Roxas stared at her, wondering where the hell all that confidence had come from. For one thing, 'Axel' and 'Kairi' looked insane and were probably going to start frothing from the mouth at any moment due to rabies. And there was the small factor sprinkled into the pot to make it more humiliating – everybody was watching. Some snickered, like it was the best form of entertainment since … the last greatest form of entertainment. Maybe it was like horse-racing, and the snide residents of the island would start placing bets on who would win the fight between them.

Well, Roxas would have bet on Kairi – Axel was fast and wiry, but Kairi was obviously very, very mad, as she dove forwards and tackled her 'friend' to the ground. She looked ready to punch him in the mouth, eyes blazing with fury. Cha-ching, the blonde haired boy thought mentally, cashing in all his imaginary munny in his head. He'd been right. He had an uncanny knack of managing to tell the future, or who would win the Blitzball matches or brawls.

"Are you on crack?" hissed Roxas, secretly admiring Naminé. She was brave, very brave. Whatever happened to shy Naminé? When she used to be a little girl with cute bunches who hid behind Roxas like he was a shield from the big bad world outside. She always stayed like a version of a little sister in his mind and he wanted to protect her from the evils of the world and the strange, drug-induced people that lived there. Why else would their eyes be so blood-shot, clothes so rumpled? Or had the closed minds of the other islanders affected him, made him think the same? Boy, he was being _cold_.

"No, I'm going to stand on my own two feet," declared the girl, doing just what she said she'd do. She was very graceful, like a swan, raising her head towards the general area where Axel was grappling with Kairi. "I don't you to constantly introduce me to everybody like I'm a shadow," she said softly. "I want to be a somebody, too." Nobody bullied her, she was far too sweet to bully, but nobody paid much attention to her either, apart from Roxas. Maybe she wanted people to pay attention to her just once, to step outside the drawings – she'd wished for them to come alive for so long. Why was it so hard to move one foot in front of the other towards her destination?

Now the accusing eyes swooped in arcs to gaze at her, as she felt them prickle uncomfortably into her skin even though she tried to look away. She averted her eyes from the small gathering of people participating in the unofficial bet of who of the two 'gutter-children' were going to win the fight. They were _horrible_ to exclude people like that, and she felt a wave of pity flutter in her heart. Even if they seemed perfectly able to take care of themselves, maybe they needed a friend too, just like she did? Kairi and Axel seemed to have a strange relationship going on with each other; both would loudly insult the other, being however crude they liked. Then they'd ignore the option of walking away and attempt to kill each other instead – maybe because through it all they were still friends and couldn't abandon them.

"Um… Hello?" asked the girl softly, a tsunami of thoughts and feelings and insecurities smashing into her skull. This wasn't a familiar situation – she tried to avoid people and didn't like introducing herself. She was new to the more social art of 'friendship' because Roxas was all she really had.

Distracted from her age-old routine of trying to beat Axel to a bloody pulp she realised somebody was talking to her. Halleluiah, an excuse to end the fight – just because she hit Axel a lot, she didn't exactly enjoy it, he just needed some of that arrogance knocked out of him. They were friends, and she was sure they didn't do that to each other, no matter how uneasy their relationship was, but her mother was lax on parenting so she never really learnt the common grounds for social rules. None of them really knew anything about communicating properly with others, all one big dysfunctional family.

"Do you need a hand?" asked Naminé shyly, extending a hand for the red-headed boy to take. Kairi seemed perfectly A-OK apart from her evil hairstyle of doom that was messed up making her head appear to be on fire. Well, so did the boy's, but that was his style, and it wasn't one suited for Kairi. She should have known – she'd drawn all possible variations of her hair-style in her sketchbook when she'd got bored. She'd traced out that outfit, too, and her eyes and nose and mouth, deciding how tall she was, everything.

"Thanks," smiled the red-headed boy, flipping a cocky grin at Kairi, who scowled and dug the tip of her trainer into the sand. He knew she probably felt jealous because it appeared that the girl seemed to favour him over her, but then everybody found him irresistible. Apart from Kairi, but he'd deduced long ago she had the mental capacity of an ant… Hmn, and she was too into physical violence. He took his hand into the blonde haired girl's, noting the sweet little smile playing about her face, like she'd finally … finally come home?

She helped pull him up, and noticed that he really did tower over her. For when he'd been sat on the floor, he hadn't looked that tall and imposing, clothes in varying shades of black, obsidian, jet and charcoal. She'd never got around to comparing his height to hers in her sketchbook.

"I'm Naminé," said the girl in her soft voice that had that sort of dream-like quality, trying to ignore the mutterings of annoyance from the islanders. They, even though naturally peaceful, wanted somebody to win the brawl, as they all disbanded deciding that their own activities were more fun than this.

'Naminé' was different from the other islanders, she was one of those people you could picture curled up in a corner reading a book, oblivious to life and technology blaring around her. She painted a picture of peace, and looked like a little girl caught up in a time-warp, always young.

"Kairi, Axel," said Kairi in a rather harsh voice, stabbing at herself with a finger, then motioning towards Axel. Naminé nodded like she processing all-new information – but she knew already. "Have we met before? 'Cause you look familiar…" proceeded Kairi in a sceptical voice, studying the girl in her itty-bitty sundress, trying to dredge up some old memories, but it was hard. She could see a blaring darkness oppressing her from all sides in the back of her mind, censoring out any images. It hurt her head, trying hard to recall something about this girl.

_We have, in a way…_

"I don't think so," said Naminé, still feeling slightly uneasy. She'd only ever drawn them and it was almost terrifying to see them standing there, flesh and blood, the shock becoming moulded into fear. She was afraid of them – she was afraid of a lot of things. She linked her arms behind her back in a classic pose, swinging her small body slightly, allowing the breeze to wash over her.

She suddenly wanted to call to Roxas, because she knew him and she could cling to him in a storm. Roxas was real, and if she was correct, these people weren't meant to be. Instantly she scolded herself, changing her position slightly so she could spy the blonde boy.

Ah. He was with Selphie now, the hyper-happy brunette girl. She wouldn't interrupt then; she'd valiantly plough on with the mission she'd given herself: stand on your own two feet.

"If I'd met you before, I think I'd remember. You have a memorable face, it sticks in the mind…" stated Axel, leaning back against one of the numerous palm trees scattered across the island. This statement made Kairi's pretty features wrinkle up slightly – what the hell was Axel doing, _flirting_ with her? It was obvious they were not suited for each other, nonononono. NO. She couldn't be falling for all that crappy mush…

Dear God, she was, a faint tinge glowing on her pale, almost vampiric complexion. Jesus, maybe people didn't compliment her enough. Maybe she didn't stand out much, but God, with that weird perverted kid on the island, wearing that way-too-short sundress was shrieking 'look-at-me!'

"Thank you…" she said softly, squeezing the papou-fruit shaped charm, concealing it from view. It was private to her. Her drawings had been private to her, but now everybody could see them… Nobody could keep anything a secret anymore. Would it be her old 'fairy' duvet that became granted the gift of life next and slithered out of the door? That would be humiliating…

"I'm leaving, I don't want to be a third wheel," stated Kairi suddenly, really not wanting to tag along and play gooseberry. Axel probably didn't even like 'Naminé' at all. He was just 'all-eyes' at her because of the ridiculously high-up hemline of that dress. Oh yeah, not that she'd let him try anything on with her, because she looked far too sweet and innocent, like the old _Alice in Wonderland_ illustrations. She had liked those books, not that she told anybody that, it would give Axel ammunition for years.

"C'mon, princess!" said Axel with a smirk on his face, making his green eyes narrow. "Don't throw a strop…"

"I THOUGHT I SAID SHUT UP!" screamed Kairi at him in a tone that could make glass break, looking near ready to tear out her messed-up cinnamon hair, stalking off. "Anyway, we better be going be going back anyway, the others'll be waking up soon… And we were told not to leave, got it memorised?"

"My line, you thief," commented Axel dryly, looking up and down the bedraggled form of his 'friend' who was very pissed off indeed.

"I hate you so much…" spat Kairi, eyes narrowed into slits as she slunk away, looking like a coiled viper ready to shoot poisonous venom at somebody. Deciding to vent her anger out on that stupid cheap Blitzball that pervert and 'carrot-head' were throwing to each other, she caught it again and punctured the plastic surface with her nails. She snorted in disgust when it didn't make a loud enough popping noise and tossed the pathetic excuse for a Blitzball at the two kids. All the while muttering a steady string of words under her breath in a repetitive loop. It sounded suspiciously like 'fuck, shit, bastard," with a lot of unintelligible curses thrown in for good measure.

Naminé's blue eyes shone slightly with concern – somehow she'd managed to offend Kairi, and she wasn't sure how. Slowly, she turned to look up at Axel, sighing softly as she clung tighter to her lucky charm. It hurt, but she managed to banish the pain of pointy edges digging into her skin to some far-flung corner of her mind. "Did I do something wrong?"

She looked sweet when she was worried, Axel idly mused. Kairi was never worried, she was always head-strong, confident and wanting to reap the souls of innocent people. He _never_ provoked her, of course, because he was nice. She was just a bitch – yeah, that was right. "Nah. I just came up with the conclusion that's she's constantly caught in a permanent state of PMS induced bitching. Ignore her like everybody else does," he shrugged, smiling a little as Naminé giggled softly. "Hey, since I'm new here, are you going to give me a grand tour?" He knew he had to be following Kairi lickety-split if he didn't want his mother to find out he'd slunk off, because she'd only get angrier at him. And she was still mad because of that unfortunate habit of picking at the thread of his jeans – bitch. So he wasn't ecstatic to follow a girl who hated him (at the moment, she always got over it until he managed to piss her off again) to a room where he was condemned to be with his least favourite people. Sora, Riku, assorted people of the parental type…

"I, er…" Naminé turned to shoot a fleeting glance at Roxas, who was still engaged in conversation with Selphie, the girl bending down over him as he sat in the sand. They were laughing at something, and Roxas had probably forgotten about Naminé and would walk home with Selphie as an escort. "Okay," she said brightly, feeling amazingly out of herself.

She had managed to shake of that feeling of shyness, and wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet. It seemed to be lurking in the darkness, ready to come back up and bite her like a rabid dog.

o.x.o

"It's pretty … small …" commented Axel, leaning back lazily in his chair, scraping the legs against the floor, making a shrill noise. Naminé winced slightly as the metallic sound ground in her ears, as she averted her eyes from Axel's eyes, into the briny deep of her glass of coke. Almost like she could tell the future in it, or something, blonde hair falling around her shoulders – but oh no, it appeared she could do that already in her drawings.

She nodded in a rather non-committal way, shyness creeping back upon her and pulling at her skin, dragging her under. It was hard to dredge up anything intelligible to say, trying to form proper words from her tangled-up vocal cords too much of a challenge. She wasn't why her stupid brain had frozen up now when she'd been perfectly fine conversing with Axel as she led him through the island. Maybe she could blame her glass of coke on the brain freeze, and all the ice-cubes merrily bobbing around, declaring: "I R EVIL" to her. They were taunting her, because she couldn't think of anything to say and now she was going insane because she thought they could speak to her when obviously they couldn't and that was a long strand of thought that really should be broken now before she got a headache. The music playing through the speakers in the café weren't helping that much, either, although it was all gentle and pitter-pattery like falling rain. Something light and airy, with a Japanese up-beat, maybe Utada Hikaru if she tried hard enough to decipher the words through her haze of brain-meltdown.

It wasn't a date, she kept telling herself, repeating like a mantra in her head. I'm just showing him around, just showing him around, not a date; nothing's going to happen…

Her stomach jerked and wrenched when Axel looked at her with a smirk, and she bent down, pretending to be staring intently at those self-proclaimed 'EVIL' ice-cubes. Axel grinned at her, watching as she kept looking up from her drink every few seconds to check if he was still staring at her. When she realised he was, she flicked her gaze back down again, making small 'meep'-like noises.

"Your, island… It's small, but it's kinda pretty…" He was still looking at Naminé, and she wanted to yell at him to keep his eyes to himself. Mainly because the intensity of his gaze was sort of disconcerting – nobody paid much attention to her. Why should they? She wasn't beautiful or catchy; she dressed in plain white with a plain hair-style.

"Nmg… I … er… where do you… come from?" she asked, amazed at having been able to form a coherent sentence. Now she would have to give herself a pat on the back. That was why she preferred her drawings to communicating with real people, because of that matter. She felt like a bunny-in-the-headlights under Axel's gaze.

"It doesn't matter …" said Axel with a small frown. He didn't really like thinking about home. There was no real reason, but… "Hmn? Naminé? N… Dear God!" he cried, noticing she'd taken a large gulp of her drink and choked. The details were hazy to him, but Naminé knew she could blame the 'EVIL' ice-cubes. She'd accidentally swallowed one down with her drink in surprise, and gotten it lodged in the throat. Because of her mother, stood in the doorway.

Of course, Axel snapped into 'superhero' mode and decided he better save the girl, because her dying would not have been cool. Really would not have been cool at all. So he did the obvious thing, and moved around to thump her on her back. He was acutely aware that everybody was staring at them, as the girl gagged and spluttered, dislodging the 'EVIL' ice-cube from her throat, falling back into his awaiting arms, making it look like he was attempting to hug her. Well, maybe he was a little, as his arms drew around her to support her.

The ice-cube, partly melted in a puddle of the blonde-haired girl's drool grinned evilly at them, as Naminé's mother narrowed her mis-matched eyes at the two of them, shaking her head.

She didn't look happy, for some reason. In fact, for some reason she looked worried.

x.o.x

"Argh! Burgal-nummm!" muttered the brunette boy, as a flash of red shot in front of his eyes, a hand being pressed to his mouth to stop him from screaming and waking up everybody within a fifty kilometre radius. And Riku and Yuffie, who could get pretty cranky when woken up at what they deemed to be 'too early'. Actually, Riku always seemed pretty cranky and was so damned competitive at everything – Sora figured he and Yuffie had 'who-could-sleep-in-the-longest' contests. And the assorted parents didn't find everything too much fun, either, and Sora screaming his head off wouldn't have been the lovely early-morning wake up call they were hoping for.

"Shuddup Sora, it's me, Kairi," sighed the girl, looking down at him on the bed, the covers curled up around him in some sort of chrysalis from his attempts to escape from the 'Kairi-burglar'. Although what sort of washed-up guy would try to steal from them when they didn't have anything but several spoiled mattresses and pieces of furniture that they wouldn't have been able to drag down the stairs? And the lifts were broken and smelt a bit odd, like a cat had crawled in for sanctuary and died. No, wait, the whole place smelt of that corpse-stench. He really could be a complete bubble-head sometimes, she thought with a mental sigh.

She removed her hand, and looked down at the stupid little boy. He was pretty sweet, though, blue eyes wide, still from his fear that she was a knife-wielding maniac attempting to pull down the door and sell it in the black-market. "W-Why are you awake? I thought you were going to kill us," he muttered, huddling into his blankets like he was five, not fifteen. He did look adorable, in a helpless, falling-apart way. It made Kairi roll her eyes, because she didn't like Sora. Nu-uh, no way, he was far too immature for her and he fine, refined tastes and … feh, he was making her giggle like a stupid schoolgirl. Kairi never giggled.

"Sora, you moron. You're just a lazy bum! Me'n Axel have been up for about two hours. Had to pick our way out with a hairpin," she said lazily, that stupid grin still on her face. No, she was tough, she was Kairi. SMILE, BEGONE! Oh shit, that didn't work, as now her face looked scarily contorted like a Halloween mask.

"Oh… So why isn't Axel with you?" asked Sora, blinking his large blue eyes innocently, as he stared off into a space just past Kairi's head with a fixed smile on his face. She wondered if somebody dropped a very big, heavy brick on his head when he was a baby in his cradle. It would be a good explanation as to why he was so constantly 'out-of-it'.

"He's wooing his new girlfriend, y'know, after destroying my life and embarrassing me and being a jackass," she growled, sitting on the edge of the bed next to Sora. She wondered why she and Axel were friends, anyway…

"Sounds like Axel... 'Nite, Kairi," said Sora lazily, his fright over the burglars that were never there long-since banished, as he rolled over and closed his eyes. He was snoring instantly, in about five seconds.

"Lazy bum… It's eleven in the morning…" said Kairi with an affectionate smile that wasn't really meant to be there. Somehow it wormed its way onto her face. This didn't really look very good, no it did not…

o.x.o

Her mother had been pretty insistent that the girl followed her out of the café shortly after Axel's heroic attempts at saving the fair damsel's life from the ice-cube. After hurried introductions she didn't seem to want to make with the boy, she told him Naminé had better be going. She felt humiliated as she was marched out of the shop like she'd been caught dealing drugs with 'shady' characters, a tomato-blush spreading across her face. She must have looked so stupid, as she turned to try to catch Axel's eye, trying to subtly mouth an 'I'm sorry'. He noticed, but he didn't make any attempt to return it, to say he understood, as he was too busy glaring at the woman.

She didn't look anything like Naminé, with stylised brown hair, one eye blue and one green with delicate swirls suggested, several scars and cuts up and down her arms. He didn't like her – she reminded him a little bit of his mother, but he figured all of them were the same. They just annoyed you and nagged you and dragged away all the pretty girls … He had liked Kairi's mother, though, because Kairi wasn't a stereotypical 'pretty' girl with the blonde hair blue eyes combination, and he couldn't care less when Kairi got sent home. All they did together was go out and point at the fat kids and laugh at them, and it was damn hard to be romantic around a Kairi. She was probably more of a boy that Sora, only Sora wouldn't have suited a mini-skirt half as good as she did…

"So… That was 'Axel'," said Yuna with pursed lips, finally letting go of Naminé's arm. She sighed, fiddling around with those large earrings that dangled from her lobes, presents from … her husband. She shouldn't be won over by materialistic objects, she should have been smart enough to realise more and more scars would join those on her arms. More and more… Red, shouting and screams welling up in Naminé's mind, red like Axel's hair. She never liked thinking or talking about Yuna because it was a depressing subject, so she was going to think about her drawings … And Axel … Yeah, that sounded nice.

"I don't want you to talk to him," Yuna said in a decisive voice, crossing her arms across her chest.

Hmn, Axel, yeah, Yuna was talking about him too, and … Shit, what did she say? Rewind the tape back through the funny high-pitched sped up voices and movements, and she said… 'I don't want you to talk to him'. Okay, that was mean, that wasn't on… Some part of her belated teenage rebellion kicked in, as she crossed her arms, mirroring her mother.

"I want to see him again," she said adamantly.

Yuna looked a little gob-smacked, eyes wide. Naminé hardly ever said no, so shy and down-trodden. Like Yuna really, when it came with dealing with 'him', a dark opposing figure. Red, red, red, it hurt her eyes and arms and those scars that would never heal in her heart. She didn't want Naminé hurt because of this boy, who looked a little dodgy. And she didn't want herself hurt because of him…

"Naminé… I… I can't let you see him. He's a … bade influence, in all those black clothes and the way he was trying to molest you in the café…" Her voice faltered, as Naminé's kicked in.

"He wasn't trying to molest me, an ice-cube got lodged in my throat and he got it out! Please? I just want to talk to him, nothing bad's going to happen…" Her voice took on the tone of a child much younger than herself, the blue eyes becoming larger slightly. She could 'cute' her way for anything, she'd never argued with her mother or anybody really, but thought it would work. Sometimes Roxas would buy her an ice-cream when she was busy drawing when she did that.

"Well… I… I… I'm not sure." _It all starts with them saying nothing will happen, but something always does no matter how hard you try._ "Well, I know… Well, I've seen those pictures and drawings, and they're bad enough, but now this… This, Naminé…"

So she knew. She'd somehow deduced Axel was …. Just a drawing. That must have been why she was so adamant against her seeing him, because she was freaked out about the whole thing and confused.

"I know… It's odd… And everything… But I need some more friends other than Roxas. I think he's getting … b-bored of me anyway, and he'll run off and I'll have nobody!" she sniffed, almost feeling like hanging her head on her mother's shoulder and crying like she did when she was little and had nightmares.

"You do know this can't last forever…" Yuna sighed; looking sky-ward, as if hoping it would shower advice down on her. "It's temporary, wasn't meant to happen… And if … Well, if it's found out by certain people, it'll…" _Completely crap up my life._

"Oh, I know."

"Then…. Then I guess..." Yuna sighed, no good at arguing, not even to her daughter. And she seemed so attached to him already. She sighed, walking on. She'd been worried by the drawings, but this just took the cake, the biscuit, whatever pudding in existence. This would complicate all their lives, and no matter how hard Naminé could try to hide it, it wasn't like a drawing. She couldn't it under her bed and make it go away for a few seconds, they'd all see. But… Naminé had been so unhappy for so long… Why deny her this piece of happiness that she may never get again? Life was too cruel…

She looked out from the quaintly-cobbled road they were traipsing down, both of them, mother and daughter, buried deep within the confines of their thoughts and mind. Both picking over the thing that they were drawings, this was reality. And reality was darker and scarier than doodles.

She'd regret it later, but Naminé's angelic little face…

"Okay. Just be careful."

She was the worst mother ever, attempting to the best one by making even worse decisions. She wasn't very good at this. But the look on Naminé's face made it all almost worth the pain that would follow. But only almost.

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: Yay! New chapter, took a while to type because of SCHOOL shakes fist But this is a fun story to write. Hmn, so, yeah, Yuna knows! Yuna's Naminé's mother, slightly OOC but yeah. Think FFX Yuna, not FFX-2. FFX gentle shy Yuna. So… Sorry to have caused confusion for some of you, but Axel's mother isn't Aeirs, she was just showing them around being part of the 'welcome committee' and I forgot that replying to review. Yeah, I forgot – shows you I have no idea what I'm talking/typing about. But yeah, I LOVE coming up with these colour meanings – took a few from a book called 'Knife's Edge' where each chapter was a colour. But this has nothing to do with that book, cause that book's about racism and … crap… Three reviews for an update, pretty please? I'm getting somewhere with this!_


	4. o3 : YeLlOw

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"Y**e**_ll_**o**w"

_x. Bright o Joy o Peace o Angel o Blinding o Hope .x_

**-x-x-x-**

Naminé looked at the faces assembled around the kitchen table, fists clenched at her sides, nails digging into her pale palms. A procession of deep crimson rolled down, roses in a lily bed, the yellow florescent lights above attempting to mirror organic sunlight – to produce that lovely glow that smothers everything in peace and light and hope. The lamp didn't accomplish this role, instead highlighting all the problems, making them seem more vivid, alive, like maggots wriggling around everything. She didn't feel very hungry, stomach lurching in a most unpleasant way as she pulled her gaze back down to her bowl of cereal, bobbing around in the now mucus-tainted milk, enhanced and made all the more disgusting by the reams of horrible fake light.

Yuna looked like a little child, nibbling her lip in a nervous reflex and darting her gaze towards her husband, who seemed to be in a good mood, although they never lasted that long. Like snow shoved under a searing glare, being introduced to a candle, it would melt away in icy pools and you'd be in doubts whether the good times would ever come again. One day, they'll crack, they'll snap and break and twist and bend and we'll all be destroyed. One day, one more punch, one more comment and Yuna would crack her head on the ground, blood seeping from her head in garish puddles. One day, Yuna wouldn't be able to take it any more.

"How's my pretty princess?" asked her father, high on last night's escapades at the local pub, in ecstasy as everything was bright and happy in his eyes. He could be even worse, far more unpredictable when he was at a peak in behaviour, when you could detect the alcohol in his breath. Naminé produced a fake smile and picked up her spoon, holding it tightly, pretending to be engrossed in the shiny surface and her mutilated appearance. She didn't want to play happy families. She didn't want to participate in small-talk.

"I'm fine," she replied curtly, the smile still sickeningly in place, eyes shining. Her father seemed satisfied with the response – he grinned heartily like the happiest damned person on the planet. The people portrayed in adverts to happy music that never dare lay a finger on their children and love their wife and family. It made her sick, sick to the pit of her stomach.

Yuna smiled almost like somebody on drugs, high on crack in a hazy dream. Yuna must have been on crack to ever envision everything would be A-OK when living with Shuyin. It made her heart bleed.

"Isn't this nice?" sniffed the woman, reaching up to pull her brunette hair back into a pony-tail. Neat and efficient, that was Yuna – but somehow her elbow managed to knock her plate of toast, sending it spiralling gracefully to the floor. The sudden crack broke through the false happiness, completely destroying the 'happy family' act. Toast lay forlornly mixed between broken plate, with golden butter smeared the tiles.

Shuyin jumped, Yuna winced, Naminé … Naminé wanted to cry. The littlest thing could set him off, and it seemed Yuna accidentally knocking her breakfast to the floor was one of them. His face became a mask of anger as the woman shrunk back like a little girl, bending down and muttering about picking it up.

"You clumsy bitch!" roared Shuyin across the table, and if Naminé were a little girl she would have run upstairs and hid under the bed. But she was far too old for those antics, too mature to run away. The noise obviously interfering in Shuyin's drunken stupor, he continued, not really sure what he was saying, spittle flying from his lips. "Why did you do that! You know fucking well we don't have the money to go fucking smash plates against the wall whenever we fucking well please! But no, for you everything's a perfect la-di-dah girlish haze, huh? For you everything's perfect, you wore! You lazy slut! It's all your fuckin' fault, Yuna! All of it! So don't act like I'm the bad guy here!"

He paused the barrage of insults to steady his breath, and Yuna's hands shivered as she scooped the remains of plate and toast into the dustpan, head bent, shoulders shaking. "Naminé… Please, go outside and … play…" she stuttered over her words, as the girl nodded and tactfully got up. Any other girl would probably be enraged she insisted that all she did was 'play' like she was little, but she wasn't going to correct Yuna. That … would be too cruel.

o.x.o

"Naminé! Hey, Nami?" inquired the boy, running after her at a quickened pace. She wasn't exactly ignoring him, but her thoughts were eating up the insides of her head unpleasantly so she couldn't hear his good-natured voice. The sun shining around her had managed somehow to freeze over into ice, making her feel cold. She muttered something to acknowledge his appearance and wound her pale arms around herself, trying to hug herself to create courage. Arms wrapped around her, she didn't care that they were only hers trying to imitate the light that came with somebody caring – Roxas cared, but not enough. He didn't know about her family problems, nobody did. To everybody, she was just the weird girl in the sundress who acted odd on a regular basis and was constantly dreaming. She was constantly dreaming, too, but not about what the shallow girls thought of, not money or clothes or make-up or boyfriends – she thought about happy times she'd never had, true friends, being able to walk in the sunshine. Things that came with yellow and light and peace and living. Much be a nice luxury being able to feel properly, must be nice luxury to have proper friends…

"Yeah… I'm okay," said the girl softly, her eyes darting around the landscape gracefully, surveying everything. Little children taking part in frantic races, laughing and shrieking, their merry voices carrying in the air currents interjected with the calls of seagulls, smells of the sea invading their noses. For them, there was no time, no end to their lengthy summer holiday – she'd never had that feeling of freedom, confined to her dark thoughts and her sketchbook and pastels, trying to imitate the outside world she could never quite reach, never quite grace with her finger-tips. There was a young boy walking along merrily with his dad, calling in urgent tones for ice-cream or his brain would swell and he'd die, the father grinning as he allowed himself to be dragged after his son. Since when had Naminé had that? Her dad, when she was little, was frequently amazingly nice to her, scarily nice, constantly giving her treats and presents, yet when they got home everything would cease, and he'd hit Yuna and the blonde girl would run off to her room. She didn't love her father, she was a damned good actress, and as a little girl could do a good impression of loving being pushed on the swings. She knew how to pretend to feel, but she lacked emotion. And the teenagers that walked around aimlessly, laughing and talking about bands and music and other … crap. Meaningless to the girl, she never fit in enough to care about hair extensions and boyfriends.

"Really? 'Cause it doesn't seem like that to me…" replied the boy, unaware of her hazy thoughts spinning together to make a bitter blend of wants and desires, all hollow and empty because she couldn't feel anything but pain. "You seem sort of … spacey. Something on your mind?"

"No… Not really… Just… worried about Maths homework… Got Algebra problems ingrained in my head like the Ten Commandments," joked the girl loosely, noticing the two teenagers waving merrily at Roxas, calling to him, because he had lots of friends he could spend time with. He just hung around Naminé out of pity, she thought bitterly.

"Nam? Nammie?" he asked, calling her affectionately by a handful of her childish nick-names. Because in everybody's eyes, she never grew up, was always the same little girl. She sniffed, arms still tightly wound around herself, staring up at the endless patchwork of blue sky stitched together to form a heaven. She'd like to live there… It would be much more peaceful. "… Are you sure?"

"Positive. Hey, why don't you go see what Selphie and Tidus want? I'm … I'm gonna meet a friend at the cinema," she said loosely, inventing something so he wouldn't hang around her like a shadow, drowning her in sympathy. She didn't want his sympathy, she wanted a _real friend_. Like she envisioned Kairi and Axel to be, but Kairi hated her and Yuna seemed to despise Axel for being a child's drawing.

"Okay," said Roxas brightly, glad to have an excuse to ditch the girl, who confirmed that she'd be perfectly A-OK alone. Well, why shouldn't she be? She was going to meet a friend at the cinema, why should he care? He ran on ahead to greet Selphie and Tidus with excited laughs, instantly plunging into an amusing conversation about Wakka. Everything about Wakka was worth a few cheap laughs over. However, looking back at Naminé, he couldn't help confirming what he already knew; by the way she drifted off…

She didn't have any other friends beside him… And he was ditching her, throwing her company away as if were a hot potato.

x.o.x

"I'm hungry," moaned the girl, swinging her arms in a limp way that reminded him a little bit of a rag doll. She looked a bit like one too – one of those scary creations that scar children for life with limbs falling off and hair severely messed up beyond belief. She was a tom-boy, and never took much care of her personal appearance anyway…

"Then get some food for fuck's sake. I'm not your nanny," growled Axel in annoyed tones, flicking his gaze away from the scary girl. He didn't want to go blind for looking at her or her colourful attire.

"But the bread's gone mou-ldy," she countered, the sounds of evident disgust coming from a few paces away as Kairi discovered her words were indeed true. The bread was eaten up into an indescribable mess. Dark patches of blue were seeping in from the corners to fade into loose green hues around the middle, peppered with black. It smelt funny and was making Axel feel quite sick, actually, so he vowed he would stop looking at it – but it was so transfixing in a completely unappetising and Halloween-related way. "And I'm hun-gry and we'll all hun-gry and I want something to eat," she continued in a merry little sing-song way, rocking back and forth on her trainers like a demented cuckoo. "And you must be hun-gry 'cause you never eat cause you're anorexic-ally thin and it's highly disturbing yet your figure's still more girly that Kai-ri's cause you've got hips. And us girls have to stick together."

Axel narrowed his bright green eyes at the annoying little bug he'd rather like to swat. Comparing Axel to Kairi of all people wasn't very flattering, and then she'd taken it one step further to compare him with every single person who had a feminine shaped body – namely the entire female species. "You didn't want to say that, little girl," he hissed through his teeth, although this wasn't a true fact. Yuffie was a year older than him, but shorter and more immature, so he found it based in some truth.

"Yeah I did, because I'm hungry and hunger makes people say baadddd things," nodded Yuffie, as if it made sense somehow to blame her insulting of Axel over the mouldy bread. "Badbadbad. So can we all go out and get something to eat?"

"Why are you asking me?" snarled the red-head, running a hand through his crimson hair, trying to disguise the fact that he was hungry too. And he wasn't going to stoop so low as to salvage the pieces of crap residing in the bin that Kairi had tactfully dumped there because Riku wouldn't touch it and Sora was occupying himself in a most educational way by being sick. Axel didn't want to hang around the island with 'them' who he treated as another species. Heh, if people thought he and Kairi were weird constantly at each other's throats they should be introduced to Yuffie. Yuffie combined with hunger was a dangerous formula.

"Because you're taller than all of us and can beat up any nasty people who stare because we're different," sniffed the girl, as if she was caught up in some big, tragic melodrama. Well, that part was true at least – their lives were a little bit like a soap opera at the moment. "And Kairi told me you went to a café day before this one, to flirt with some girl because she over-heard you boasting about it to Riku. Yeah… So you know where they serve good food and crap. And I spoke to our parents and they wanted us out of the way because they're going to some meeting about what to do with us all … Because of the camped conditions and all. So we're all gonna go out and get something to eat isn't that yay!" inquired the psychotic young girl, grinning like a demented clown. "Hope they have arcades here…"

"No," spat Axel, interrupted her merry little monologue about how she liked the sea and sand and ice-cram especially chocolate flavour. Probably what made her so damn hyper. You had to limit your time Yuffie because your brain would become in danger of melting.

"Awwwww! Pretty please?" she whimpered, eyes large like melting chocolate sunken into her head framed by strands of ebony hair. She probably thought she looked sad and tragic, but really she looked … Actually, she had the 'sad' and 'tragic' look down pretty well, to be quite honest. Well, it wasn't trying to summoning up depressing thoughts at these times.

"No, Yuffie," he said coldly, crossing his arms defiantly. He wasn't going to give in to Yuffie, because there was only one of her and one of him but he was bigger than her and flick her into non-existence… But lately she'd been practising kick-boxing and could be pretty dangerous with a pointy object in hand. Not that she'd resort to violence.

"Hey, Axel, have you seen my shoes?" inquired the brunette, stumbling over the very objects he was trying to look for, landing on his ass. "Oh, it doesn't matter, here they are! Yay! Now we can go and get something to eat, because Kairi was getting impatient."

Axel's face blanched, taking on an interesting white colour. Oh … fuck … They all expected him to take them on a jolly little outing. Even Riku, who wasn't somebody who liked being led by others and was probably pissed off about Axel being superior to him. "No… I'm not going! Let Kairi direct you, she likes being in charge and she's explored over here too…"

"We just went to the beach. I never took note of any cafés. That blonde bimbo gave you the grand tour, so you have to share your newly found knowledge with us. We got munny," declared Kairi in a bored voice, producing the pouch from her skirt pocket. She hadn't really spoken to Axel much that morning – probably still pissed off about yesterday. Well, he could always try to recreate their shaky friendship again… But she never did that, Kairi always vowed she'd never speak to him again like a stupid little girl, but then Yuffie would annoy her too much and Sora would be with Riku so she'd have to come crawling back to Axel. Axel never let her know that their friendship meant anything to him, but it did, all the same.

"Is there any way I can get out of this?" sighed the red-head, shoulders slumping slightly. Kairi was the closest thing to a friend he really had, and when she asked him usually he had to do what she wanted – apart from the 'no annoying her' rule. He never managed to keep that promise.

"No. Not unless you develop malaria in … oh, about the time it takes for Sora to tie his shoe-laces," remarked Riku in his cocky, flippant voice. Axel never liked Riku that much…

o.x.o

Two women sat in calm silence, heads bowed as if in prayer. Shafts of light spilled out over their heads to give the false appearance of angels. Scars lightly crossed the thinnest, prettiest one, her lips full and eyes heavy with sorrow. The other women facing her coughed delicately to break the silence and tension eroding away at them, her face bathed in shadows, trying to scramble hastily back into a hiding place where the light wouldn't expose her for the nothing she was. For the horrible creature the light didn't deserve to shine over – but it never did, because in her mind she was isolated. Everything around her was a pitiful act, as she was really pretending to be so sure but getting swept out by a tidal wave.

"Yuna… It's been a while," whispered the woman, eyes hidden with a darkness as thick as a blindfold. "A long, long time… Seems like years since I last saw you."

They spoke too formally to be friends; however they may well have been just that once upon a time, before something horrible happened. This horrible memory was playing around both their faces. Yuna sniffed a little and nodded, looking very elegant. She always looked prim and proper, even when red was cascading down her face and it was all she could do not to scream.

"I had to come and see you when I heard the news," said Yuna in her natural, airy-fairy breezy voice, soft like a passing dream. "Because … I'm worried… About what's happening. Because if he sees you, if he … I … I don't know what will happen to Naminé."

"How is your little girl?"

"She's … She's … Not a little girl anymore."

"Of course," replied the other woman serenely. All sense of personality had deserted her a while ago. Now, every little thing agitated her, made her jump, having to resolve her problems in a bottle of wine. Soon, she'd go the same way as he did… She hated him. Everybody did.

"She's discovering the truth," Yuna choked, finding it hard for the words to slide through her parted lips. "I never wanted this to happen, because now it is she'll discover everything about herself. It was so much easier when she was little. I've always been worried after those drawings, I always had to hide those, but how do we hide real people? We'll _all_ going to get hurt."

She nodded. "Then you can't let them see each other. If he sees them together, Yuna, you're going to regret it. We all are. He won't let them see each other – if you let them it would be cruel. They'll think everything is merry and happy yet after a while all their dreams will destroyed and it'll hurt more."

"But she's needed a friend for so long…"

"We all need a friend, Yuna. But not one who'll put our lives in danger."

"He might not find out…"

"He always does."

x.o.x

"I SEE A DOG WITH A POOOO-FFYYY TAIL! CAN WE PET IT!" roared a very loud voice, making the girl jerk her head up from her lagoon of depressing thoughts dripping through her mind. It was hard to stay fixated on your own personal problems when some mental kid is pointing and shouting and laughing at a poodle. The worried-looking dog trotted across the street to escape the evil demon, as a kid with impossibly-spiked hair chased it, giggling helplessly. He had a bright look on his face as if he were a child who took great delight in dealing with crack and ecstasy. He looked strangely familiar, sort of like Roxas, but with brunette hair and far too happy and hyper. "IT HAS A POOFY TAIL AND BLAH AND POOFY AND BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!" babbled the stupid little boy in excitable tones, as he proceeded to scar the poor animal for life, as it bounded off with a new-found agility and hit behind a load of dustbins. "Where'd it go? C'mere, boy…"

"Sora… Grow up," said a voice, and Naminé could hear the angry scowl in the words, slicing into her ears far more than the 'blah-ings' about a dog with a 'poofy tail'. She knew Sora, too, although she never figured he'd be so annoyingly hyper… It was him, Kairi's friend, and Kairi was the one who was looking so annoyed at him now, hand held loosely on one hip. So that meant Riku had to be in the crowd, and there he was, looking faintly amused at the current situation, a superior look on his face that clearly said he wouldn't go around tormenting poodles. And then there was Yuffie the psychotic ninja-girl who, in dreams and drawings, would laugh and talk with Naminé animatedly and they'd both laugh, like best friends. Yuffie looked sort of like she wanted to chase after the sea-gulls and watch them fly around in alarm, but she restrained herself by looking at her nails and giggling.

And … There he was. There **he **was. It was Axel, not looking very flattering as his face was marred with a bright red that made him look like a tomato, looking like he wanted to tear clumps of his hair out in frustration. Even so, in this insane fit of desperation and despair for Sora, he still looked completely … Axel-like, she thought loosely, still looked pretty hot. Just like her face now, as a blush of her own spread across it.

"Sora, you can go and pet the dog some other time," said Riku in a knowledgeable voice, not seeming to notice the blonde haired girl sat on one of the many benches that littered the street, most of them engraved with messages about fisherman who died out at sea. The shadows from the buildings spread out over her like a thick blanket, playing around over her figure so it was hard to make out the features. "I think Axel and Kairi are getting a bit fed up."

"I'm not," chortled Yuffie in amused tones, looking out over the vast expanse of beach that melded flawlessly into sea, carrying in the smell of salt and sea-weed. "This is the funniest thing I've seen in years," she declared brightly. "Sora, you must stage these shows more often."

"Don't … encourage … him …" hissed Axel, tempted to pick up Yuffie and throw her over the pier railings. Sora was demented enough as it was, he didn't need an audience to make him play up even more. He wondered where Kairi found the charm in him, but he guessed it was hidden very deep down, and came out in quirky little ways others found infuriating. "I thought you were hungry anyway, Yuffie. You can't have food if Sora is off on merry little poodle-chasing escapades."

A thoughtful look crossed the girl's face, as her eyes still lingered over the blue patchwork of sea in the horizon. "Oh yeah! Never thought of that! Sora, stop being a jackass."

"Hey…" muttered Sora in depressing tones, looking sad as Kairi grinned at his face, all traces of annoyance completely wiped away. Like the children writing their names in the sand with sticks to have the messages smothered by the sea. "I just saw a pretty poodle…"

"You didn't need to yell about it," said Riku in tired tones, motioning around the entire area with one hand. "You disturbed all the nice islanders, see? Look at that poor little girl, she'll never be the same again. See the look of horror engraved on her face and feel bad for your sins," he grinned, as Yuffie and Kairi made noises to show they found his words funny, shooting loose waves at … Naminé. She didn't realise she'd looked so horrified until Riku had pointed it out.

Sora, too lost in his embarrassment, stared at his shoe-laces, then at an interesting white thing floating around in the sky which were called 'clouds'. Axel didn't wave, because a sudden feeling of déjà vu washed over him like a tsunami. It was Naminé, looking pretty sad and alone and depressed sat by herself, and she'd even been treated to a rendition of the 'Sora Show'. All the other passers-by who had witnessed his love for poodles had been snickering and laughing openly, but she still seemed upset. And so did Kairi now, figuring out it was the 'bimbo girl' from yesterday, the smile freezing on her face into a look of distaste, quickly turning her back on her to talk to Riku about something…

Axel felt sorry for her, even more sorry for her than he did for himself. Sure, he was hanging around with a complete retard, but she was hanging around with nobody at all… And being alone was worse than being with a Sora.

He moved over to her, the girl looking faintly surprised, as if wondering why he would ever want to bother to speak to her. Well, she had shown him around yesterday, and she knew where everything was better than him, so he could invite her around to be a tour guide again for the foolish people. That and the fact she looked a little bit like a limp sock with that sad expression that had commandeered her face. "Hi, Naminé…" he started uncertainly, not sure how to greet her. He barely knew her, after all.

"Hello … Axel…" she said softly, tasting his name on her tongue. She felt a little bit intimidated. There she had been, minding her own business sitting on the bench musing over her life, then she was jerked out of her thoughts by a loud, loud boy and a really … good-looking one… And it was hard not to think of anything else when he was sat next to her for no apparent reason, steering her away from her pit of gloom. It was her pit of gloom and she could languish in it whenever she damn well pleased.

"Listen, me and my … er … these people," he said, not going to call the odd group of misfits his friends. What sort of pathetic looser would she take him for? She would mentally place him in the same group as Sora and Yuffie, and his reputation would be down the drain in a matter of seconds. Naminé found it amusing her referred to them simply as 'people' anyway, by the way she smiled softly, so it was all good, as he ploughed on. "And we're all crap at directions and stuff, and I know you showed me around yesterday, so how's about giving the tour for the idiots? Yuffie's hungry and it's getting annoying – oh, that one's Yuffie," he said, pointing in her general direction, although Naminé already knew.

"Kairi doesn't like me, does she?" asked the blonde girl in a rather sad tone, her head hanging limply, resisting the urge to hug herself for some confidence when talking to the red-head. "She wouldn't want me around…"

Axel's face crinkled up into a bitter look as he shot a glance at Kairi who was watching them with her arms crossed, look of an annoyed mother evident on her features. He didn't give a fuck about what Kairi felt, to be quite honest. She was just jealous he'd found somebody else to hang out with who wasn't her. "Nah, of course she doesn't. She's just being stupid," he said in encouraging tones. "Yuffie'd like you, she lacks the mental brain capacity needed to hate somebody."

"Well, I…" muttered the girl, looking down at the floor, away from Kairi's annoyed gaze. Why did she appear to hate her so much, anyway? What did Naminé ever do to her? "I dunno… I don't want to get in anybody's way or anything…" But it did sound tempting. It wasn't like she had anything better to do with herself, since Roxas walked away merrily with Selphie and Tidus.

"Come on, you really think I'd manage being alone with them all for an hour?" asked Axel, a smirk evident on his face. She was beginning to waver, because he was that irresistible, really. Although his reputation had been diminishing rapidly as he walked through the street, thanks to Sora, and he had a horrible feeling most of the other girls would just point and laugh at him for knowing such a looser. "And you know you're way around…" And I don't want to see you sat there all alone. Teenagers aren't meant to be sat around on depressing benches with messages of dead fishermen on them watching as everybody else has fun.

"You sure they wouldn't mind?" asked Naminé after a while of thinking about it. On one hand, she'd have something to do and she'd be with Axel and the others, and may get to know her drawings better. On the other hand, the idea was sort of scary and Kairi didn't like her and Sora was insane and could hurt her chances making other friends. But she had always been a mis-fit anyway, what harm could it do? "Well… Okay…"

o.x.o

"I love Lenne's songs!" chirruped Yuffie in a happy way, feeling contented and full as she picked at the crumbs and remains of her slice of fudge cake. "And her lovely outfits and everything, I so want to get one of those pretty multi-layered skirts, you know? Like the one she wore in the music video of 'One Thousand Words'. I really want to get tickets to her concert if she's doing one here."

"Yeah, but Yuffie, the tickets cost an arm and a leg," Riku pointed out in a dry voice, sipping at his coke, the evil ice-cubes bobbing about in the mixture merrily like small rafts. Naminé didn't order ice with her drink after the events of yesterday. "Where would we get the money?"

"Oh yeah…" sighed the raven-haired girl, being brought back down to reality with a horrible crunch, setting her dreams of watching the songstress alive in flames. "Well, I guess I could always watch it on TV… If we had one," she muttered, still playing around with the crumbs decorating her place. "Why did we have to get shoved in the smallest possible spaces without any technology or anything? It's like living in the freaking stone age…"

Naminé smiled softly as she lazily engaged in the conversation, no longer feeling like an outsider. After tapping into Yuffie's love of Lenne and her concerts everything had been clear blue skies, and it was just as she had imagined – something just clicked between them and they got on really well, almost like she was a best friend. Sora was funny usually without even attempting to be, making idle comments without even realising what he was saying until it was out of his mouth, and Riku would make a few cheap digs at him and they'd all be laughing. Even Kairi appeared to be a little less pissed off at her and asked her very nicely at one point to pass the salt.

"Well, I was going to go and see her concert…" said Naminé with a small smile on her face, as Yuffie's chocolate brown eyes lit up considerably. "I ordered some tickets a while back…" She ordered two tickets, one of her and one for Roxas, but she'd never told the blonde-haired boy about that. And anyway, he always went off with Selphie and Tidus now. She did feel a little bit bad about leaving Roxas out and instantly offering his present to a girl she barely knew, but she _did_ know Yuffie, she drew her. "So you could come if you wanted," she concluded, picking off pieces of her blueberry muffin.

There it was again, that faintly annoyed look on Kairi's face that kept resurfacing at regular intervals into their conversation, as she excused herself, saying she needed to go to the bathroom. She got up, unnoticed by Yuffie who was babbling excitedly about going to the concert and thanking Naminé over and over again, grinning like a Cheshire Cat on happy pills. Which was a disturbing thought.

"I'm not into your girly music, I listen to big boy's stuff!" Sora proclaimed, sending Yuffie and Naminé into peals of laughter, as Kairi sighed hearing them enjoying themselves, moving away from their table in the corner. Any other time it would have been her seated in Naminé's place laughing at Sora's antics, her who would be talking about Lenne's music with Yuffie. Not this odd girl who just decided to walk in on them and take her place. It wasn't fair… Nothing ever was, though.

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: Avast the plot thickens… Yeah… So, why's Yuna so worried, and who's she talking to? This could be interesting . Please review! I love people who review because that's … cool … and stuff. Three reviews for an update? Please?_


	5. o4 : GrEeN

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"G**r**_e_**e**n"

_x. Creativity o Old for new o Replacement o Changing o Flexing o Envy .x_

**-x-x-x-**

The girl frowned, doodling aimlessly with a mascara wand on some of the napkins she'd manage to salvage from the restaurant. The cold was burying into her back in a most uncomfortable way, biting into skin and lacing through her spinal column until it felt like it was frozen. She reflected on the past events, and wondered how she'd ended up being stranded in the toilets in the first place, graffiti shouting out at her in big, bold black lines from the powdery-blue walls, toilet paper scattered around at her feet, half the taps faulty and not working, cubicle doors smashed down and locks removed. She wrinkled her nose up in disgust, feeling horribly left out from the circle of teenagers occupying the table out there, talking to each other, but Kairi wasn't included in that equation. Not since Naminé came along, and the ever-transparent Axel began to get a crush on her, and all thoughts of Kairi were decimated, red hair replaced with blonde, pink clothes for white, old for new.

The black lines swooped elegantly along the paper napkin, her small piece of art beginning to shape. It was rather a nice picture, but if the same assignment had been handed to _Naminé_ she would have embellished and improved upon it, because she was atomically better at everything than Kairi in all her friend's eyes. She was small and delicate and petite, and Riku probably thought she needed protecting far more than Kairi did. She was interested in pop, ice-cream and laughing at even the worst bad jokes even if was just to be polite, and Yuffie liked these qualities because she was able to feel actually funny. She was kind, caring and compassionate, and Sora liked this because no matter how stupid he was she wouldn't get mad at him. She was _Naminé_ and Axel liked her because she was an improved version of Kairi.

"Kai? Kai-ri?" asked a timid voice, hearing hands rapping on the door in a soft little symphony. "Kairi? You're not slitting your wrists are you!" the voice continued, now adapting a frenzied sound, and the girl grinned slightly at the evident worry. Well, Sora was still as adorable as a cup-cake or something else sugary or sweet, and he could never replace her, no matter how many new friends he made. "KAIRI! I'M COMING IN TO RESCUE YOU! PUT THE RAZOR-BLADE DOWN!"

Shaking her head, she discarded her drawing into the over-flowing bin, paying no heed as it bounced off the garbage inside and rolled in a forlorn fashion through a puddle of something Kairi didn't want to identify, hitting her shoe. The mascara was running, making it look like the picture was crying.

"Yeah, Sora, it's okay! I'm not slitting my wrists," she reassured, wiping back a few strands of her crimson hair behind her ear and pulling open the door with a dramatic motion. She almost laughed as she saw the sight of a falling-apart Sora, looking ready to don his cape, bad outside and cheesy lines and swoop in and save the day. Of course, he didn't need to, because Kairi was perfectly fine, apart from the fact she had mascara smudged over her hands and her nails were bitten down to stubs. "See. Et voila! No cutter marks," she held out her wrists.

"Oh, that's good," stated Sora merrily, his up-beat attitude returning swiftly as if he'd never thought about the girl lying in a puddle of her own blood on the floor. "Because Naminé told us about this really neat place we can all go and explore if we rent these rafts. Neat, huh?" he asked in chipper tones, not noticing Kairi flinch at the sound of the other girl's name. "Isn't Naminé cool, Kairi? Kairi?"

"Y-Yeah… She's cool…" mumbled the girl in a half-hearted way, like a deflated balloon with only half the helium left in. Sora offered his arm, and Kairi linked hers with his, still seeming like the half-empty cup of water, being drained away until there was nothing left. If Kairi was plain old water, then Naminé was appetiser, far more exotic and sparkly and colourful and cool. "She's real cool..."

The crumpled up picture doodled in mascara seemed to be echoing Kairi's feelings, as the outline of the sad little girl ran with the water pooling around it, giving the appearance of crying.

x.o.x

Naminé looked around the island with a sense of familiarity running through her, pouring through every vein and fibre of her being, a love most children would provide for their parents or friends or childhood crushes. She can't love her parents no matter how hard she tries, no matter how hard she lies to herself. She can't bring herself to love Roxas, because sometimes when her eyes ghost over his appearance she realises how little she knows about him, how little he knows about her, how little she knows about herself. She can't love a childhood crush because she was too lonely to ever develop such complex feelings for somebody, hiding in the shadows, head bent in solace, her and her drawings. She reserves these feelings for the worlds she creates on paper and places and landscapes familiar to her. She doesn't need to know basic Geography about how the sand beneath her feet was formed to love it or how the secret place came to be, because she goes there so much it became a part of her, filling up an empty gap in her heart. It's more of a home to her than her house would be.

"Isn't it pretty?" declared Sora in merry, exuberant tones, looking around with blue eyes laced with happiness, like a little boy in a candy store. Not knowing what to pick first, whether to opt for the sugar-spun sand and write his name in bold print with a stick, or the green-mint leaves of the palm trees beckoning him to climb them. "I lovelovelove it! You're so lucky Nam, I wish I was born here!"

They're already on pet nickname terms thought Kairi a little sourly, eyes downcast as she stared out the sea. A small corner of paradise, really, isolated from the main land of cinemas and hospitals and cars and satellite television. A child's dream locked away in the past.

"Yeah… It's … pretty nice…" agreed Axel, not one for gushy poetic descriptions of how 'pretty' something was. He couldn't fault Sora's words though; it was a nice place, not linked directly to the main beach, but more hidden-away, excluded. Quieter. It was a little depressing, actually, how it seemed so far away from humanity.

Naminé blushed slightly, a pale pink flush washing gently over her cheeks. She looked like a giggling schoolgirls, and that was a look she rarely adapted, because the school had people like Selphie to fill that role. She was a quiet girl who kept her head bent and didn't babble on about romance, but rather chose to keep out of everybody's way.

"Um… I know something you might want to see…" she said shyly, digging her feet into the sand that spilled out under her pose, radiating nervousness.

"Alone," growled Kairi to herself. It was obvious that she was only inviting Axel to see whatever it was, and she had caught on to this subliminal message. Naminé wouldn't dare suggest she was trying to leave the others out, so Kairi decided she had better be the one who led them away. "Alright, everybody!" she declared, clapping her hands together in a merry way that a food tech teacher might adopt if she wanted to 'spice' up a dull lesson in an attempt to make baking sconces seem mildly interesting. She was trying to drum up interest from Riku, Yuffie and Sora like they were little children who didn't know how to switch on an oven – well, maybe Sora didn't, she didn't even trust him the most basic of food-cooking appliances like microwaves. Not that they had one, all they ate was canned crap and loaves of bread and wrapped-up goods – yet Sora had managed to cut himself with the damned can opener about eight times already. "I'll race you all to that tree and back!" She pointed, indicating the tree jutting out on an isolated island, connected only by a bridge.

"What? Are you kidding?" grumbled Riku, obviously feeling too 'mature' for this child's lark, but Yuffie and Sora seemed excited and happy, needing to exhaust all their energy.

"Nope. Don't be a sore looser, do it for the little people. Ready – on my count!" she called, now dropping the tech teacher role and becoming a P.E. teacher instead. Really, it was a wonder she didn't decided to become a teacher later on in life – but oh yeah, she hated being around those younger than her for too long. It made her brain bleed. "Three … two … one … go!"

The four set of on their merry little gallivant around the island, Yuffie becoming distracted by the pretty seagulls soaring over-head and falling on her ass. She jumped up angrily, not seeming to notice it was encrusted with sand, doubling her pace, yelling at them it 'wasn't fair'.

Naminé watched them for a few seconds, before turning to shoot a look at Axel. Not a look filled with fear or anger or love … Just a 'look'. With her bright blue eyes wide, she smiled softly. "Coming?"

o.x.o

Drawings were chalked up roughly all over the walls, sprawling across the spaces of grey rock like a living sketchbook. It seemed a bit ironic that a drawing, flesh and blood emerged from paper, was leant against one of the walls emblazoned with a large face.

It didn't seem to fit in particularly well to the rest of the small little island, didn't link the chain of bright lights and happy children and sandcastles. It was quaint, dark and closed off with patterns of mushrooms growing around the walls, choking any other life. A musty, damp smell mingled slightly with the sea breeze that pulled at your clothes and hair invaded Naminé's nostrils. The place held so many memories and secrets; it was a place she visited most often than the others when she was little. She remembered how she had never seemed to fit in with anybody, for reasons she couldn't put her finger on, and so she'd retreat into the comforting arms of darkness and draw. Sometimes she invited Roxas along with her, and a portion of the masterpieces on the stone was his work, but most of them she could claim copyright too.

Was … that how she became such a good artist? Because she was _lonely_? She had always been pushed out, excluded, labelled 'odd'. A sad, sad girl.

Dreams, hopes, fantasies… They were all shown on that wall, as clearly as if somebody had smashed open the head of little girl Naminé with a rock, picked through the thoughts and plastered them all over for the world to see. Kairi was there, a doodle scrunched up and looking not at all like the girl having a frantic race outside, and there was Sora and Kairi together, and Riku posing, running races against Sora, Yuffie laughing. A shrine to the teens that had become real – although she highly doubted they'd recognise themselves in her child's scrawl.

She drew her fingertips across those old, old pictures, and smiled softly, brushing with the backs of her hands, grazing her pale skin. She moved her touch down lower, until she was brought down to her knees at an empty space where she hadn't embellished. The sunlight from above danced around her features, making her look sweet and innocent, eyes wide and very, very blue, making Axel want to put his arm around her like she was little girl who couldn't sleep and quash any thoughts of monsters living under her bed.

"You can come and sit down here if you want," she said in that voice that was ridden with thoughts and old times and faces and places coming back to haunt her like a daydream. Walking through the haze and fog in her mind to come back to a time a young Naminé was sat there and it wouldn't be Axel there, but Roxas. Her _real_ friend.

She flinched slightly at this thought. What was real and what wasn't? She couldn't decipher dreams from reality anymore, as she walked precariously on the fine line in between. She didn't really believe her drawings could become possessed, could come to life, but they had. Although, she didn't really believe popcorn-flavoured sauce for topping ice-cream was good, although she always found herself reaching out for that bottle because it really did taste nice.

"So Nami, why are we here?" asked the red-head with a note of confusion in his voice. She was very aware of how close he was to her, knelt on the floor beside her, both assembled like little kindergarten children when their teacher instructed them to 'sit on the carpet and if they were really, really good she'd read them a lovely story'. He was tracing the indents of the wall with his finger, watching as the light fell over it in graceful curves and arcs.

"Pick up a rock and I'll show you," she said in peaceful tones, a small smile running across her lips. Ah, it had been his good friend Kairi sat next to him he would probably be poking the life out of her, pushing her like a toddler, bringing him back to the whole 'Kindergarten-children-on-carpet' idea. But she wasn't Kairi, she was Naminé – it was only too obvious by the way he was studying her lips, wondering if they'd feel nice to kiss or not.

Nodding his head in confirmation of her wishes, his hands played about on the mossy floor, scurrying across the dry earth. He clasped onto something warm, closing his hand around the object, looking up into Naminé's eyes. She was blushing softly, the blood whirling around her cheeks in a delicate way like a princess. Maybe she didn't really appreciate him holding her hand, as his thoughts and hand wondered away, finally retrieving a rock, similar to the one in the blonde girl's hand. Dear God, he mentally frowned, was she suggesting they attacked each other like savages for a 'good laugh'? She didn't seem the type, but hell; Yuffie didn't seem the type to have committed the entire 'Raven' poem by Edgar Allen Poe to memory. But she said she liked it, it was dark and gothic, and the name Lenore was really, really pretty.

"I used to draw pictures here when I was little… And … Nobody else did really, apart from Roxas. I didn't like letting in other people here, because I saw it as mine. The others … I didn't really fit in with them very well, so I decided to create my own space here where they couldn't boss me around or yell at me if I fumbled a catch in blitzball," she said quietly, as she traced invisible lines over the wall with her rock. "And… I thought it would be nice if you'd draw something here for me, so I wouldn't forget you if you ever have to leave."

She had the multiple drawings thrown across her room to remind her of her new 'friends', but she wanted proof they had walked into her life at one point or another, she didn't WANT to forget they had been real and had spoken to her once. Like a souvenir, a memento.

"How's about I draw you and you draw me, then?" asked Axel, with a grin. "It'd be fun, I guess, and you'd remember me as being your friend, not just some random guy with weird hair."

Naminé giggled slightly. "Nooo… Your hair's not weird. It just looks like… You. It looks like Axel," she smiled, starting to chisel her rock into the wall, making crude marks in the surface. "Y'know."

"Yeah, weird," laughed Axel, starting work on his drawing of Naminé. His idea of fun wasn't really sitting on a damp floor drawing, but sitting at such close proximity to the blonde certainly was. His eyes darted across her pretty little form, smiling as she bit her lip in a cute manner, working on his 'weird' hair. He could keep looking at her like a stalker and she'd mistake it for him looking at her face to get the shape down in his crappy picture – tee hee. Maybe drawing wasn't THAT bad, then…

x.o.x

Yuffie seemed to be the perfect build for a runner, with long springy legs and her tall, slender build. But she had managed successfully to trip over her big feet several times – a side effect of being so tall, she guessed – walk into several trees – a side effect of her clumsiness, she guess – and get her backside all horrible and wet and sandy – from being so uncoordinated, she guessed.

Even SORA was doing better than her, the trio darting forwards, shoving each other playfully as they ran across the bridge, Yuffie really, really far behind. This wasn't FAIR! Nothing was, though, and she half pondered throwing in the towel and stamping her foot on the ground, crossing her hands across her chest and screaming she didn't want to do it. Maybe if she threw a strop they'd feel sympathetic to her plight and fall over and get stabbed on conveniently-placed pointy objects and she'd win. However, if she threw a stop, that wouldn't happen – there were no pointy objects unless you went as far as to stab yourself with a coconut, and Riku, Kairi and Sora would never try to stab themselves anyway. So, it made her even unhappy about how crappy her mental capacity was, as she trudged on.

Although, after a few minutes, everything was going A-OK, she hadn't embraced a tree by slamming her face against the trunk, she hadn't even slipped on the sand underfoot or tripped over her gargantuan feet yet.

Grabbing hold of the edge of the small, wooden shack, she pulled herself up, shoes drumming against the roof – praying to God it held her weight and didn't break, sending her falling … falling … f a l l i n g to her doom – in her frenzied sprinting. H-e-y, she noted as a sudden burst of colour flared up around her, the sea sparkling on all corners as she made her way across the bridge.

_I'm catching up with Sora! He's only at that weird, bent-over tree, and I bet if I went r-e-a-l fast I could catch up with him!_ Thoughts of victory and parades and fan-fares drifted through her merry little mind, as she accelerated, her black hair whipping around her face, chocolate-brown eyes marred with concentration. She WAS going to win – or at least beat Sora. She'd have to hide her head in a paper bag if Sora beat her at anything. Or roll Sora up in a carpet and throw him off a bridge, which would be a shame because she actually sort of liked Sora…

That was, until he doubled back across the bridge after Riku and Kairi who had left him in the dust, making the flimsy construction rattle under his large, butter-yellow shoes. And that was perfectly okay, but what DIDN'T register as 'okay' in the psychotic girl's books was that he had somehow managed to barge into her.

So it wasn't really _Sora_ that was getting rolled up in a carpet and thrown over a bridge, but Yuffie, minus the carpet. And as she fell, she kissed goodbye to her arms and legs and the world and she knew it and that cool mouldy bread that had made Sora sick because he deserved to be even SICKER at the poor girl's funeral for killing her.

Blue sped around her in a horrible haze, pockets of air ripping around her limp body, as there was a sudden splash as she fell into the sea. The first thing she registered after she fell in was: _Oh… I'm not dead._ The second thing she registered after she fell in was: _Oh, that pretty fluffy cloud up above looks like a candy-floss formed bunny-rabbit._ And the third thing she registered after the tumble off the bridge was: _Damn… This water is FREEZING!_

She sniffed in a rather sad way, spitting out salt-water from her mouth, as Sora looked down at the weird monster-girl that had risen from the deep with her new attire formed of seaweed and wet sand, rivulets of water running down her features. She shivered – _I hope I'm not going to catch a cold…_

"SORA! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW 'FORE I HURT YOU!" she screamed angrily, shaking her kelp-covered fist at him. Really, damned inconsiderate, pushing-of-bridges kids these days…

o.x.o

"That looks really good, Naminé," said Axel with a smile, observing her adding the finishing touches to her masterpiece with a dreamy sort of look plastered on her face. Not the one Kairi adopted that made her look like she'd had too much crack, but a sweet one that made him want to kiss her. But really, all her expressions were cute and made him want to kiss her. She just had that kissable look, all large eyes and blonde hair a sweet, heart-shaped face.

"Really?" she asked, the little happy expression on her face mirroring his, as she drew away from the wall. "I think it looks sort of crappy…" She said sceptically, looking at her work like a highly advanced art critic.

"'Course it does. It looks crappy because you were drawing me. If you were drawing that pretty-boy Riku I'm sure it would have looked wonderful," snorted Axel, prompting a conspiratorial giggle from Naminé, who hid it behind her hand, eyes sparkling like sapphires, precious jewels. Damn, he was being so metaphorical about his girl … He never compared Kairi's eyes to sapphires, but he wanted to produce a metaphor about her it would involve the word 'dishwater'. Maybe 'as unappealing as dishwater'.

"Stop being mean to Riku…" she grinned in her little girly way, tugging at his arm in a playful manner, seeming to have gotten over her initial shyness about being so close to him. In fact, through her tugging, Axel managed to manoeuvre himself so he was closer to her, making it look as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning. The daily brushing-teeth routine was rather eventful now, what with the cramped conditions he lived in; Kairi singing one of her songs, Riku hogging the shower to apply conditioner to keep it so sleek and shiny, Sora loosing half of his clothes and walking around dressed in his pyjama top and trousers, Yuffie playing about with the mouldy food declaring merrily it was un-fit to eat and all the adults bustling about moaning.

"Why, do you liiikkeeee Riku?" asked Axel in a sing-song tone, reverting back his role of being the almighty one who annoyed the others, shrouded in his cloud of annoying-ness, because he was cool like that. And annoying like that. So annoying he constantly addled around with poor Kairi's vocabulary so all she could do was mutter swear words.

"No! Of course I don't 'liiikkeeee' Riku! Well, he's a nice guy, but I don't have a crush on him or anything," she confirmed, nodding her head in assurance of those words.

"All the other girls liiikkeeee Riku – you should've seem some of the adoring looks he was being shot, until they turned into horror when they saw Sora. They were all practically begging to become his soul-mate in the streets," said Axel, with an eye-roll. "ALL the girls like Riku, I bet you have a soft spot for him somewhere…"

"I do NOT have a 'soft spot' for Riku!" cried Naminé, looking completely scandalised at the idea that Axel was entertaining. "I swear, I don't LOVE Riku!" Her voice was echoing around the walls, and she looked sourly at the drawings that seemed to be staring at her with such intensity, as if all chanting '_You love Ri-ku, you love Ri-ku!_' How was it that Axel managed to get all the walls to join in his chant too? It was unfair and playing God! All those drawings were HERS and they were conspiring against her!

An evil look glittered in Axel's bright green eyes, as he leant forward, reducing the space they had between each other even more, making Naminé's heart thump at a quickened pace, the blood speeding through her body and making her tingle all over with a pleasant feeling. Axel was leaning over her, still with that nasty look all over his face, and she was so sure for one moment that he was going to kiss her … She had visions, of them drawing their lips together, and she blushed at these thoughts…

"So, if you won't admit you have a 'soft spot' for Riku, I guess I'll have to find it myself!" he declared, like a solider declaring war, darting forwards to bring his fingers under her chin, moving around in a such a way that they made her squirm, laughing tearing up her throat. It was a long shot off kissing her – he was tickling her instead, poking about the exposed skin around her collarbone, making her squeal, as she fell back.

"St-stop it!" she giggled in a helpless mess, as the fingers roamed around under her chin. "Axellll, stop t-tickling me!" she tried again in a desperate voice, squirming under his touch, heat flaring up where his fingers brushed against her skin. Somehow, even though he was only tickling her, it seemed wonderfully romantic to the girl…

"What'll you do to get me to stop tickling you?" he asked, poking her in attempts to find this 'soft spot' for Riku he declared she was secretly housing. "What are you gunna do, huh, Nami?"

Her ears were torn apart by the sounds of her own girly squeals to pay much heed to how suggestive his voice sounded, or the compromising position they were in, her on the floor and him somehow ending up on top of her, straddling the innocent little girl. Her blonde hair spilled out over the ground as he continued to tickle her mercilessly, green eyes roaming around her petite form to lock onto her large baby blues. "Anything! Just quit it! Plle … hehe … easse!" she begged.

Axel let his hands roam down, no longer tickling her, as they moved down her shoulders, holding onto them tightly as he bent down, and her heartbeat that was already beating at a frantic pace went even quicker, making it seem like it was going to explode into several pieces. The familiar blush was prompted to surface again in a vast abundance so she resembled an apple. Or maybe Axel's red hair. There was a lot of red, as he drew closer, as Naminé raised her back from the ground slightly so he could wrap his arms around her, so he wouldn't fall and crush her. That wouldn't be very romantic, to go home with a burst lip and explain that this boy was going to kiss her, then he fell and cracked his head on hers'. Shuyin would KILL her, and maybe give her some lovely complimentary bruises.

His lips found her own sugary-sweet ones, as a tidal wave of feelings swept over her. When she had been drawing him she was completely in control, he wouldn't turn out properly if she misplaced a single line, she could erase sections of his face, and she could make him do whatever she wanted. But with real people she couldn't do that – with real people their decisions were influenced by their own minds, what they wanted to do, not what the artist forced them into doing.

He continued to kiss her from his dominant position over her, as she drew her own arms, wrapping them securely around him to keep him from coming up for air, keep him from leaving her or breaking the kiss. Her first kiss, and she was acutely aware of the fact she was getting leaves and twigs in her blonde hair and exactly how **dark** it was, and she blushed because you could do a lot of stuff in the dark most mothers and fathers frowned upon. But Shuyin didn't give a damn about her…

She let her arms go limp as the red-head drew back, gulping down the air that Naminé had deprived him of, a small smirk crossing his lips. Naminé's eyes were as large as dinner plates, as he moved his hands to toy around with a lock of her blonde hair, spinning it idly around one finger.

"Well, I guess that settles it, huh?" he asked in a rather confusing way, making her blink slowly, making him want to 'squee'. Really, that was so adorable, the way she looked at him from her position on the floor.

"Settles what?" she asked, a little breathlessly.

"I guess you're not like the other girls," he continued, un-entangling his fingers from her hair to run them around the curves around her face, circling around her lips and tracing invisible lines. Every touch sent her flying into a happy little dream-land of stars and planets and other glittery glowing things. "I guess you don't have a soft spot for Riku after all. I looked, and I couldn't find one…"

"… I told you I didn't like **like** Riku, you dummy!" she smiled playfully, as if all they had been doing was really just a childish tickling game. As if nothing 'wrong' had transpired between them, because there wasn't anything 'wrong' with kissing Axel, as far as she was concerned.

"Well, that's sort of obvious," laughed Axel.

Now, normal Naminé wouldn't have liked to be on the floor, being straddled by a boy she didn't really know – the normal Naminé wouldn't have let herself get into a situation like that in the first place. But she had to seize the moment; she wanted it to last forever. Being kissed and kissing back created that wonderful feeling that made her go all light-headed – somebody wanted her. Somebody needed her, for more than Roxas did, because he would never have done that to her. The normal Naminé, the demure little girl in her dress, would never have replied with a flirtatious: "Want me to prove how obvious it is?"

Axel surveyed her with a look of amusement. "Go ahead."

And he didn't really say much else, because that cute little girl who seemed to have been possessed by somebody else grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him down so their lips collided again, locked in a fit of passion.

Naminé, soaring hand-in-hand with angels on her own little cloud nine, obliged to the red-heads wishes and parted her candy-flavoured lips, giving his tongue entry to her mouth, letting them tangle together.

He tasted of sugar, she thought happily. Completely addictive.

x.o.x

"Where _were_ you?" spat an angry voice, as the woman cowered slightly. Not under pounding fists, but a torrent of words spat out of that mouth that could produce so much hatred, drenched in beer and anger. "What the fuck were you doing, Yuna?" he asked again, moving to grab hold of her shoulders, shaking her like a doll. His spittle was landing on her pale cheeks, as she stood there limply and took it all. She'd been absorbing all the violence for years, like a sponge that absorbed pain and hate and blood instead of water.

"I … I was … just out, Shuyin…" she said softly, wincing as her head was smacked against the hard wall, the paper peeling from it in a depressing fashion, exotic shades of 'mushroom'.

"Out? Doing **what**? Who were you talking to, Yuna! Answer me, BITCH!" he yelled, his voice contained in the small space they were crammed into, pinning her to the wall. He was getting worse, beer fuelling his rage at the world and every human that lived in it. "Where were you!"

"Just … out…" she mumbled. She wondered the sense in her actions, running off to go and see her. But it was to protect Naminé – to protect her little girl from all of this she faced. "Let me go!" she struggled, her hair messed up in some sort of hairstyle that cried out to the world, or all the insects occupying the kitchen, that she was harmed by her husband. Regularly.

"If I find out where you were, you'll regret you were ever born," he yelled angrily at her, tossing her aside, back arching gracefully in a tragic way, slamming against the wall, as her limp body crumpled and fell to the floor. A tear rolled down her cheek, soaking into the hard floor beneath her sprawled figure as she watched Shuyin storm off to get even more drunk. It seemed to be all he lived for.

He said he'd make her wish she was never born, but the truth was… She wished that enough already.

_IwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIEIwanttoDIE_

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: Yay. I really like how this chapter turned out. So, uh, three reviews for an update? I LOVE ALL YE REVIEWERS, SERIOUSLY! hug Oh, I be trying to improve my fluff as it is all crappy and … crud. My brother got this really annoying teddy bear that keeps SINGING and it's really hard trying to write when a demonic bear is crying: "NINE PLUS NINE IS EIGHTEEN!" or whatever, but I try my best ._


	6. o5 : BlUe

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"B**lu**e"

_x. Whispers o Sea o Ice o Secrets o Foetal Position o Watching .x_

**-x-x-x-**

It was official: Yuffie looked like a drowned rat. Her outfit was damp and toned down several shades due to the water soaking into the materials like a sponge. Her hair was wet and exploded in tendrils across her face, mascara elongating her eyelashes melting to pool around her eyes so they bore a disturbing resemblance to gaping sockets. Her spine was laced with prickles of cold, making her tiny form shiver like a frail leaf being blown in the wind. It didn't matter how much sunlight pierced through the shrouds of clouds – Yuffie was still feeling frozen.

"What happened to you?" asked Naminé in her light voice that barely managed to beat away the shrieks of the sea air as it reached the assembled teen's ears. Kairi noted, much to her amusement, that the girl had a faint pink flush on her cheeks, as if rose-petals had opened up inside her skin. She was tugging at the hem of her dress self-consciously, shooting subtle glances at Axel. Using the wonders of feminine instinct, Kairi noted down Naminé's odd movements and deduced that she had Axel had probably been interrupted doing something they probably wouldn't have been doing under adult supervision. Well, the hickeys on her neck were also making it a little bit obvious – but boys didn't notice subtle things like that.

It was all Sora's fault because he had been the one who had distracted Axel and Naminé. The wannabe-ninja had screamed bloody murder after his retreating figure, the brunette vaulting over the make-shift sea-side shack screaming something about murdering Yuffie. Of course, Yuffie was a far cry away from a corpse lying sombrely in a coffin, but she did look amazingly crappy. Anyway, listening to demonic boy scream about the forced of evil really didn't help a romantic mood flower.

"Maybe you should ask Sora dearest," spat the irritable girl, her voice becoming oddly distorted with the consistent chattering of her pearly whites. She cast an accusatory eye running with what seemed to be midnight tears at the boy who looked a little bit sheepish, hands behind in back in what appeared to be a casual pose. He was embarrassed over the whole misunderstanding that Yuffie was the prince of darkness, trying to mask that fact by laughing nervously.

Riku sniggered slightly, eyeing Yuffie up and down in a sceptical way, as if admiring a picture hanging in an art gallery. "Well…" he said, starting to critique her appearance, not treating her as a girl but as a stupid jumble of colours arranged in such a way it was impossible to tease a meaning out of. "I can easily see why he might mistake you for a sea-monster. I mean, you're hair is a mess, and it looks like the corners around your eyes are decaying…"

Shooting Riku a crushing look with her decaying eyes, Yuffie swayed aimlessly on the spot. Maybe she was going to accompany that scary look with some words colder than how she felt, but the effect was spoiled somewhat when a loud cough parted her lips instead of a bitchy comment.

"Poor Yuff. That doesn't give you guys the right to be so … mean!" exclaimed Naminé, trying to engage herself back into conversation, trying to bat away any suspicions that she and Axel had been doing anything than just 'talking' in a friendly, civilised manner.

She still kept self-consciously tugging at the hem of her dress, Kairi noted, a small smirk lifting her lips up. Oh, she was too sweet and angelic for her own good. A bit like Sora, really, but with some obvious differences her little white dress was helping to outline.

"Maybe we should get Yuffie back h…" Axel stared, but the word 'home' snagged his throat and stubbornly remained there as a firm, un-moveable object that choked him. It wasn't like him to ever really feel depressed about the whole string of events no matter how unpleasant they were, but after Naminé slicing her own heart open with a butcher knife and handing him all the memories of her home to him, he felt bad. She was a lucky girl – she had some memories to hang on to, but all Axel had was an empty gap because he didn't have a home. At least, not anymore… "Maybe we should get Yuffie back," he finished off, swallowing down the horrible taste the word 'home' brought with it, refusing to let it spill from his mouth.

"Yes, yes we should," concluded the dark-haired girl, shooting a murderous look at Sora. It was warning enough that he wouldn't be safe in his make-shift bed at night, as Yuffie had obviously hidden a knife in Sora's toy moogle or something just as sinister and wouldn't fail to brandish it at him at the darkest hour.

Sora shuddered. _She was always watching…_

o.x.o

"Did you have a nice day, sugar-lump?" asked Yuna in a shaking voice, adjusting the strands of her brunette hair that fell in an elegant and almost sad way around her gaunt face. Features were darkened and over-cast; once vibrant eyes set deeply into the back of her head like dull, lustreless marbles; cheekbones taught as the skin stretched around them like plastic wrappings decorated with bruises. She was complete mess. Naminé wondered why her battery hadn't been completely sapped of juice yet, what small reserve of power she was managing to scrounge up to keep on going.

It didn't look like re-charging her was an option.

"Yeah … It was okay," replied Naminé, deciding not to comment on the numerous imperfections hanging around the young woman like a death-march. Shuyin was like the grim reaper, as he held on to Yuna's hand and led her down to an open grave. The scent of death was strewn all around the house, in the dark colour schemes and beer bottles scattered across the table and the rusting old kitchen appliances kicked into the available corners, linoleum floor tiles cracked and caked with dust and uninviting splatters of old food. "Do you want me to help you?" she asked in her soft, musical voice, indicating the pot of vibrant red liquid simmering on the stove. It was popping and bubbling in a most uninviting way, like stewing blood.

"No, its fine," reassured Yuna, raising her wooden spoon lightly coated in the red mixture. It was if the woman's open cuts had bled onto all the cooking equipment and leaked into the pot. "You go upstairs and do whatever teenagers do…"

"Alright, mum…" Naminé reluctantly agreed with her plans. There was so much left un-said in her family, so many loose ends that were getting twisted firmly, leading up the day where everything would fall apart. Naminé could have commented on the new bruises forming in mould-like patterns along Yuna's thin arms, but she didn't. Yuna could have asked about the marks on Naminé's neck that obviously pointed out she hadn't been doing something she should have been, but she didn't. Neither wanting to offend the other, Naminé slinked out of the door and closed it, her presence being no longer felt in the room.

Save for the un-answered questions that had never been spoken drifting lightly in the breeze as a bitter reminder to the fact they weren't a proper family and probably never would be.

And so the days drifted by in the ways days did, what with Naminé staying locked up in her room for greater portions of the day hidden in her fantasies outlined in the paper. She would only come down every once in a while to forage for food, noting new bruises decorating Yuna's face like crude tattoos. She kept her door closed, but that didn't mean she couldn't block out the truth.

It started to reflect in her pieces of art, as the great beauties slowly became twisted into horrible monsters she couldn't control. The screams and shouts, blood and bruises slowly became incorporated within her pictures, as they all became laced with the aspects of real life she'd tried so hard to ignore. All the doors in Naminé's world were closed so she could keep away anything that might try to hurt her, but she couldn't stop over-hearing the things beyond the barriers.

For instance, when she ever dared expose herself to sunlight it seemed to burn her and crack through her pale skin, poisoning her insides. When she tried to work up some inspiration and hide from the monsters plaguing her sketches she'd hear the girls like Olette and Selphie casually inject her name into conversation, throwing it around loosely without much heed to the fact it was hurting the blonde girl. And so the monsters continued to follow her wherever she went, until she threw down her pencil in distress and buried her head under her pillow and tried to summon up tears that wouldn't come because she'd cried them all a long time ago.

The fluffy pillow encasing her ears gently couldn't stop reality swirling around her in a vortex, as she hid in foetal position trying to fool herself that everything was alright.

Even if she could fool herself, she couldn't fool the monsters. They knew how weak she was and took advantage of it, dragging her down into her own grave, filling her mouth with soil so she couldn't even scream. Even if she did, nobody would hear her.

_Apart from maybe _him.

o.x.o

It started out innocently enough, as most things do. She just wanted to go and find somebody to drown her sorrows in, and as Yuna was gone she wouldn't question it. Naminé desperately wanted somebody who cared and understood her. It was kind of strange, really – she'd known Roxas for a great portion of her life, and Axel only a few days. But she felt like she could relate far more to the red-head. He wasn't joined at the hip with a gang of giggling girls and Blitzball-obsessed boys who were held in higher priority than her. Deep down she felt they had this strong bond that her and Roxas could never have even if all the Olettes of the world were to suddenly drop down dead so instantly she was the only friend he had left. He didn't _understand_ her, not like Axel did.

She had her lucky charm stowed away in her pocket, the constant reminder of it being there coming from the pointed edges digging into her thighs at every step. The nightmares were locked up in the four corners of her room, ready to strangle her as a twisted welcome back into their embrace when she got home. But it wasn't a _home_. She remembered that old saying, about 'home being where the heart is'. It was a little corny, but it retained some sense of truth – her home was wherever her heart considered a sanctuary, and it couldn't be based anywhere near Shuyin because **he** was the source of the darkness that oozed its liquid black tentacles around her. Her true home appeared to be with …

_Axel?_

Naminé hummed gently, a sweet little melody featured around the words 'sanctuary'. However, her sweet blue eyes and sweet blue hair and sweet little white dress fitted around her innocently cute little figure had no place amongst the large buildings that loomed around her, luring her in like a Venus fly trap.

She'd abandoned the streets she was normally restricted to, the ones that were lined with candy-cotton houses in neat little rows and cobbled pathways. It retained that jumbled sense, but all the buildings were clustered around each other, all vying for space as they roughly stabbed the clear blue sky and mutated the horizon.

It was a vast, confusing metropolis, and Naminé was started to get faintly worried. She was a slim, slight, petite little girl and was acutely aware of the accusatory eyes cast upon her as she made her uneasy way around. These people didn't belong in Destiny Islands any more than the large buildings did, the ones dubbed outcasts and shunned by the locals. However, in that way she supposed they were perfectly matched, as she had never really been accepted. Yet, something in their glares told her they weren't supposed to mix.

It was truly bizarre, as every few seconds her blue eyes would snag on certain people she knew, certain drawings that owned a place in her sketchbook. She didn't know everybody, but knew half of the population, at least.

And they didn't exactly seem to want to know her.

She remembered something Yuffie had told her in one of her hyper hazes of conversation a few days ago. Something about being situated in a flat B, as the happy words that were oddly distorted due to the mouthful of cake she had been eating at the time resonated within her brain, guiding her forwards to one of the buildings. They all looked exactly the same, apart from the fact the outsides were studded with cheap, golden letters of the alphabet, ranging all the way from A to Z in an imposing circle. Naminé idly wondered how they would categorize the next load of flats that were going to be constructed. By types of fruit? She didn't think people would be vying to be placed in a building named 'flat banana', apart from the insane people, like Yuffie.

Her pace loosely changing to a run, she made her way towards the flat. She wasn't exactly aware of it at the time, but she regarded the building somewhat as her sanctuary and was eager to barrel her way inside and escape the nightmares that failed to leave her alone.

x.o.x

Naminé was seated on a mattress that appeared to have been idly kicked into the corner of the very cramped room, using a few various pillows as arm rests. She had thought her house was dump, but this room took the biscuit. Hell, it took the entire _cake_. It was scented with human body odour from all the beings being cramped up in the small, confined space with only one shower that probably wasn't even working anymore due to over-use. The walls were stained and the faint odour of mould wafted from the trash can, and Naminé didn't really want to poke around in the contents of it to find out exactly what was giving off the strong smell. Light snoring was coming from a corner of the room, where Yuffie, like the bin, appeared to be kicked into one of the spare spaces, shivering with a duvet wrapped around her hap-hazardly as she flailed her arms around in a flu-induced nightmare.

Despite the chaotic state around her, Naminé found she liked this place. She played around with one of the random stuffed toys scattered across the mattress. It was warm and _cosy_.

And small and messy, but she could over-look that fact.

According to a few scattered conversations with Axel, from the information she'd gleaned Yuffie was sick due to her fall into the sea a few days ago because she had a crappy immune system or something, and he had been trusted to stay and take care of her. Their parents claimed to be out at another one of those meetings about the state of the buildings and how they needed to be relocated somewhere bigger, and Sora, Kairi and Riku found it too depressing to be stuck in a cramped environment without a CD player to drown out Yuffie's snoring and mutterings about 'wanting the red lollipop'.

Axel had also, in turn, asked her a few questions, like what she was doing there, not seeming to be especially unhappy about it. She told him it wasn't exactly hard to find all the flats where the new people had been located, and Yuffie had told her where to go if she ever wanted to visit a while back whilst stuffing her mouth full of cake.

"So, Naminé, did ya come around here to check up on Yuffie about that whole concert thing you invited her to?" asked Axel in an off-hand way, but this simple statement made the blonde girl's eyes snap open into a surprised expression. She had completely forgotten – and she had no idea Axel had been listening in on her conversation with Yuffie. "Cause I doubt she'd be able to go now…"

As if on cue, Yuffie mumbled something incoherently in her sleep that sounded a lot like 'don't let the waffles steal the toaster!' as she squirmed around under her duvet like a maggot.

"I guess so," said Naminé lightly, a small smile spreading across her innocent features. It was a _real_ smile, not one of the half-grimace things that were shadowed with nightmares. She never even smiled properly around Roxas, leading the boy to believe her mouth muscles were broken or something. However, around Axel she acted like a normal girl, like how she felt she should be. Almost as if he linked her back to some old personality she'd left behind a long time ago, the pieces of personality that were stained on the pages of her sketchbook. "Hey, Axel? You're not _hinting_ at something, are you?"

Axel looked down at the top of her head, blonde hair shining like waterfall cascading around her shoulders. The older boy was stretched across one of the beds, henceforth on a higher perch than Naminé.

"No, I'm not hinting at anything. But I doubt Sora would be a good person to invite to a concert with all the screaming people and coloured lights and whatnot. And you can't go alone, anything could happen…"

"Axel. You depress me. You think I don't have any other friends besides you guys?" asked Naminé with a playful tone lacing through her voice, but a horrible thought struck her. It was sort of true…

"Yeah, but none of your friends are as special as me, right?" he asked her softly, threading his fingers thorough her blonde hair, coaxing her onto the bed so she now claimed a place next to him. She'd dragged one of the random stuffed toys along with her, and had it sat neatly on her lap. "I mean, I'm the only one you'd feel comfy doing this with, right?" he asked her imploringly, spinning her around and crashing their lips together.

The stuffed toy rolled off Naminé's lap to sit proudly on the mattress below like a king on a throne, glassy eyes staring up to survey the two teenagers kissing above him, becoming joined by the girl's good luck charm a few seconds later as it slipped from her pocket.

Naminé felt a bit like the pieces of her heart that had been missing were being handed to her on a silver platter, as she attempted to glue them back together.

o.x.o

"Yuna…?" asked the hesitant voice of the woman, staring into her eyes seeping tears like a broken tap. "Y-Yunie?" she tried again, stumbling over the old child-hood nickname. How long had it been since the brunette had been called that? "You've got to pull it together, girl."

"How can I? Look at what I found?" asked Yuna, her voice speared through her sobs as she showed the dark-haired woman the fistful of papers. All of them sketches, a tall boy and petite girl as the main focus of all of them, the doodles soaked with tears. "I found them when cleaning her room… I didn't realise how bad this had all gotten… It's all _falling apart_," she cried, as her companion's expression stretched into the look one might wear at a funeral as she flipped through the pictures.

"Naminé's getting older now, huh?" asked the woman, trying to replace the dull look on her face with a shaking smile. It didn't work, it just made her mouth look broken and horribly lop-sided. The old chant rung through her head as she set the papers aside onto a conveniently placed table. _Naminé and Axel, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. _God, this was all getting so complicated. It wasn't meant to be this way. They weren't even meant to see each other, for Yuna's health. Yuna's life was at stake because of all these new people barging in, and she knew she was included in that equation. None of them were meant to be there.

"She's getting too old! Why couldn't she stay a cute little kid forever?"

"She was a little kid last time I saw her… Fancy that…" hummed the woman gently, observing the woman crying before her, feeling horrible because it was partly all her fault. "Remember her with her little bunches and sticky-outy feet?"

"God… All this was bad before, but now it's getting even worse because of all the new people. He won't leave me _alone_ anymore – he's like a nightmare! And the only way I can wake up is to drop down dead. I'll tell God to reserve a cloud next to me when I get there," sobbed Yuna, a twisted smile crossing her face. Her eyes were framed with red and she looked like a china doll.

"Don't talk nonsense stuff like that, Yunie. It'll all be alright. You'll just have to keep them away from each other, that's all. Or at least make sure he doesn't find out."

"It's not _nonsense_, it's sense, Tiffy! And how long will it be until you can go back? A few years!"

"Maybe it'll only be a few months if they really work hard to get everything fixed and sorted again…"

"But then again, maybe I don't want you to leave. You were always my best friend…"

"Yunie…" said the woman known as 'Tiffy', in the warning voice she always used when the bloody kids wouldn't do as she commanded. "You can't start that again. What about Shuyin? We have to tread carefully…"

A rebellious look shone in Yuna's eyes, and she laughed softly. She seemed so much more animated. "Screw being careful. It doesn't matter if I die anyway – I don't have anything to live for." She stared intently at the other woman's face, before pulling it close enough to hers to kiss those inviting lips softly.

Tifa knew she should have pulled away. But she didn't.

_This was getting_ really _complicated…_

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: This is a sort of short chapter but I like it… Yay. The plot may seem all confusing now but all will be revealed. Hopefully. So, next chapter will be the concert, where INTERESTING stuff will happen . Thankies for all your reviews! Three reviews for another chapter, please?_

_--Skitts x x x_


	7. o6 : InDiGo

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"I**n**_di_**g**o"

_x. Night o Darkness o Illusions o Delusions o Stillness o Tricks in the Dark .x_

**-x-x-x-**

"Don't you think Naminé's a bit …" the red-headed girl chose her words carefully, sat on the edge of Yuffie's bed, pulling lazily at the thread. Yuffie cocked her head slightly like an inquisitive robin, chocolate brown eyes urging Kairi to continue, to crack her head open and scoop out her thoughts and hand them to her on a silver platter. She was a curious girl, borderline gossipy, and had to know what was playing around her friend's mind. She had been lying in a bed for a few days and there wasn't much to do there except sleep and stare at that suspicious coloured blob on the ceiling, and she had felt like she was dying from cold germs that had infested her body, lack of exercise and lack of drama.

"Well, don't you think she's a bit … _odd_?" Kairi finished her sentence, trying hard not to sound like a mardy little schoolgirl bitching about the kid sat next to her who dare speak to her boyfriend. That wasn't the right angle she was aiming for at all here. She was a little envious of the blonde waltzing into her life and stealing her group of friends and claiming them as her own, but that wasn't why she found her odd. Envy may have wormed into her words, but it was somehow deeper than that, and Kairi couldn't quite put her finger on why.

Yuffie sipped her glass of water Kairi had made for her seconds before, a thoughtful look plastered on her face. "How's she _odd_, exactly?" asked the girl, trying to pin-point her friend's feelings down.

"I … I don't _know_. But …" It was hard to verbalise her feelings on 'exactly' why Naminé was odd, most of confusion shining through her voice stemming from the fact she didn't exactly know the answer herself. She didn't see why she needed a reason to call Naminé odd, it was just gut feeling. "She's … Not like other girls, is she?"

Yuffie chose to say nothing on the matter, waving her one hand that didn't contain a glass of water to signify Kairi could continue.

"Didn't she strike you as … a _shy_ girl when we first met her?" Kairi asked, continuing to pick at the ratty old bed sheets as she became more and more agitated. She wasn't very good at talking or verbalising her feelings – her mother said that was probably the reason why she got so angry at people, because she couldn't tell them to stop provoking her. Instead, she usually resorted to less peaceable methods to resolve situations.

"She did, Kai. Probably because of the stereotypical tiny blonde with blue eyes. And, to top it all off, she's also an _artist_. They're meant to be quiet, right? That's probably why Axel likes her so much – he feels like he has to protect her. He used to act that way around you, too, until you proved you were capable of defending yourself in a fight. You told him pointedly you 'didn't need him hanging around like a dead weight all the time', remember?"

"Yeah… I guess. But it has nothing to do with _Axel_. It's everything to do with her! Why would a stereotypical shy girl with blonde hair and blue eyes dance up to a group of random strangers and make conversation like she's known them all her life? Why would she do that?" Kairi wound the thread around her fingers until it became taught, cutting off her blood stream. She watched with a minor interest as the skin above the tight thread bulged slightly, that sick sort of regard you usually give to horror films, where it's gross and yet strangely compelling, drawing your eyes to the flashing screen filled with mutilated corpses.

"I dunno … It is a bit weird though…" Yuffie agreed, nodding her head slightly. "She was speaking to us almost as if…"

"She'd known us all her life. Like childhood friends. And the strangest thing is, I think the feeling's mutual. I think … I think I know her too. I'm not sure how, but she seems so familiar. Sort of like … Like a memory. An old friend." Kairi raised her eyes from her rapidly swelling finger and drew them to Yuffie's face, studying her reaction. Yuffie's eyes were widened slightly, looking like she was attempting to swallow down her surprise.

"…" The pause circulated around the room, drawing them in, as Yuffie looked away from Kairi, as if realisation had hit her like a ton of bricks. "That's _exactly_ it, Kairi! That's what was bugging me about her! I feel like she's some old friend, some person I'm meant to know, but I forgot the memory a long, long, _looonnngggggggg_ time ago." She drew out her words in true Yuffie style, her voice getting deeper in an almost comical fashion, but there was nothing to be laughed at in her words.

"I know her, Yuffie. I _know_ her…"

o.x.o

Naminé was far away from the two girls that were discussing her, attempting to dissect her life. She couldn't hear their words and her ears remained uncontaminated of the words whispered behind her back. Besides, even if she was tuned into Kairi and Yuffie fm she wouldn't even care much, which was odd for her. She was a very touchy person, treading a fine line between stable and insecure. Single comments could be a push to send her spiralling over the edge into tears and waterworks where she'd remain in her room for days with her head buried under the pillow. Maybe, if she had a normal life – the normal life most teenage girls despise because it was so boring and ordinary, the biggest problem being who would empty the dishwasher – she wouldn't be so emotional, but she was and there was no way around it.

Although, around Axel she didn't feel so self-conscious, didn't try to become invisible all the time. She didn't care that her fingers were laced with his as they walked along in companionable silence. It wasn't that big blank stretching through a conversation that made people feel uneasy, scuff their trainers on the ground and look away; it was a comfortable pause whilst they weren't saying anything but communicating through looks and smiles and expression.

A place roughly inside the girl's ribcage slammed against the skeletal surroundings at every touch, beating softly in the most amazingly cheesy way, almost like a butterfly caught inside her petite body. She wanted to hold on to this feeling, as she looked around casually at the stars above caressed with the deep blue sky. Slowly her large blue eyes moved down to the red-head stood next to her, and she raised her head slowly without invitation and captured his lips swiftly in her own. Her sweet tongue found his as she blushed softly at drew back, a small smile on her face.

"Do you think the concert is going to be good?" asked Naminé softly, the crisp island breeze blowing through her blonde hair, causing it to dance in the wind. She was an ethereal sight, small with a tiny build, large eyes sparkling from the moonlight playing across her creamy skin.

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Axel asked in an off-hand voice, lifting her head up, Naminé resting her chin on his fingers. "Even if it's not, we can just do this…" His voice slowly took on a more perverse nature, making Naminé giggle as she found herself locked by the lips with him again.

x.o.x

He felt around for a bottle, fingers hap-hazardly searching along the work-top and vision clouded, hazy. His breath was tainted with cigarettes and alcohol and he mumbled curses under his breath, knocking staked plates caked with mouldy food and old pizza pieces to the floor. They all shattered as they made impact with the tiles, spewing a disgusting mess of half-eaten take-aways and cracked chips of china.

Yuna was leant against the wall, breathing heavily, face caked up dry blood – crude imitation make-up. Her head was pounding from the vicious beating it had received as she cowered.

He knew. About her and Tifa.

He'd seen them. And there was hell to pay.

o.x.o

Words spilled out of the woman's mouth. Gloriously refreshing words that were like sipping lemonade on a hot summer's day and the spray of the ocean rolling in all the colours of the rainbow. Naminé had always liked watching the sea because it pulsed and changed colour every angle you looked at it, a multi-sided shape glowing like her artist's pencils – it was never dull or white, like her in her little dress. And so it was only logical she should like to listen to the tones of Lenne's voice changing and twisting shape throughout her songs, becoming painted with different colours for every emotion.

Red; hate or maybe passion. Orange; dripping with acid or maybe just joyously happy sunshine. Yellow; lasers blinding the eyes yet it could have been peace. Green like _his_ eyes. Blue like _hers_. Confusion.

Naminé's eyes had found several people there who were familiar to her: some of them were her drawings; her lies that she'd deluded herself into thinking were real. And she thought about the others who weren't there in the room with her but nestled into pages of her sketchbook: Kairi, Yuffie, Riku, Sora. None of them were **real**.

And then there were those who could have been her friends if she'd tried hard enough, if she hadn't been so shy and freaked out every time they asked her simply for her name. There was Tidus, Olette, Wakka, Selphie.

And Roxas. _Roxas_. Her real friend, the one who wasn't confined to pages and pastel crayons. The only one who was capable of caring about her because he was flesh and blood and not just an imaginary friend.

The lyrics of the songs crashed around her like waterfalls but she remained oblivious, she opened her eyes properly, for the first time in her life. And realisation hit her, making her heart crumple and implode simultaneously on the inside, bursting into torrents of red. Red blood, and there was no doubt passion played no part inside her anymore, there was only pain. She staggered, the bright lights swirling around her in the inky pools of darkness, head throbbing to the music as she placed a hand tentatively to her head, the over reaching out on a reflex to clutch a handful of Axel's shirt to stop her from falling over.

Her life didn't have to be as pathetic as it was; her heart didn't have to be like a crumpled can tossed lazily aside. She'd unintentionally made that choice herself – she'd dug her grave and now she had no choice but to lay down in it. Roxas was her only _proper_ friend and she'd pushed him away when Axel had come along. And she had accused of Roxas turning his back on her… She had given up her only friend over somebody that didn't … that shouldn't … exist.

Naminé's throat burned, her stomach heaving. It felt like she was going to be sick… She wondered how she managed to go from happy to this depressed mood – maybe it was the song, or her disjointed thoughts, or maybe just the sight of Roxas laughing as Tidus dragged a hesitating Olette around in some sort of crazy dance. And … she had been the one who went to the stupid concert with him in the first place! Yet she had dumped him when she had the possibility of making new friends, and now he was leaving her. And without Roxas, all she had was … child's drawings.

All in all, she was _alone_. Roxas had sent her one lingering look with her cerulean orbs, and then Selphie had commanded all his attention by showing off some of her raunchy dance moves she'd picked up somewhere. Probably from the gutter.

"Nami? What's wrong?" Axel asked in worried tones, as the crumpled-up shell of a girl clung to him desperately. He cared about her … But only because she'd wanted him to. It didn't count as friendship or anything else; it was Naminé being in control. It the ultimate of one-sided relationships, like loving your reflection in the mirror – you held all the power over it and it couldn't do anything if you were never there. Axel wouldn't be standing here if she hadn't been so lonely, hadn't drawn all her imaginary worlds… "Naminé?"

She was crying, and nobody else noticed. They were all too busy enjoying themselves, dancing and drinking and chatting. She seemed to be the only person who was unhappy, listening to the sound of Axel's heart beating as she buried her head against his chest. He was the only thing she really had left, because she'd made it so. She'd wanted it.

She didn't want it anymore. She was just a lonely girl, a broken toy who turned herself into a reject through time. If she'd tried hard enough she could've befriended Selphie and Olette and the others, she could have found a place in somebody's heart who was actually meant to have one. Yet she didn't – and she realised how little she mattered to everybody. If she died, she would die a person knowing she didn't change anything in the world. Everything would be exactly the same even if she hadn't been born. Maybe if she hadn't been born, everything would be better between her parents and Roxas wouldn't be dragged down by somebody like her and the drawings would stay in the sketchbook and not venture outside. Maybe her sheer longing had brought them to her, but they didn't help anything.

"I don't … mean anything…" Naminé sobbed quietly, voice mutilated by tears and sounding completely alien to her, as Axel held her close and toyed with her blonde hair. "I don't make a difference to anybody."

"You make a difference to me, Nami…" he started, but she didn't want to hear. She refused to hear his words because they were only what she'd want him to say to make her feel happy and he didn't mean them because he couldn't, he didn't have a heart of his own to think that.

"I don't … I'm nothing … _I'm a nobody_. I'm invisible to everybody but only because I made myself! I could've had friends…" I could have been here with real people… "But I pushed everybody away…" And now she was going to have to push him away too. And she felt awful about it. But what choice did she have?

"I'll still be here…" said Axel, trying to pull her closer, but she pushed away.

"No you won't," she said in a cold voice. She was good at ignoring people, running away, hiding inside her own head like a mental patient. She'd done it to everybody who tried to talk to her – she could do that to Axel, too. He didn't mean anything because he wasn't real; he was a figment of her imagination that had somehow become solid. She was sick of everything. She was going to end it. She was going to take out her erases and rub away at all the pencil marks she'd made and blow away all the imaginary friends that tied her back into childhood. She couldn't escape.

"Naminé…" Desperation was evident in Axel's voice, and if Naminé's heart had not suddenly been poisoned with envy and pain and hate for everybody she would have stopped, would have went back and patched things up before it was too late.

_The desperation was only there because she'd put it there herself. Her guilt was only there because she'd started it all in the first place._

"Go away! Leave me alone! I-I've pushed away everybody else. What's one more person?!" she shouted, and now eyes were turning to the spectacle that was her, but most didn't care because it was about Naminé and they all knew she was so boring nothing interesting ever happened to her. She had no friends to argue with, no boyfriend to split up with.

At least, not anymore.

She ran off, the lights and colours swirling around her, words taunting her, biting at her as tears slowly made courses down her pale cheeks. Her lip was bleeding from constant nibbling, pearly whites pulling off the skin rhythmically, fists clenched. She was like a crazy person, running away from situations she couldn't handle. She couldn't handle anything. She couldn't handle _life_. Not without Axel, not without Roxas, not without **somebody**. It felt nice when Axel said he cared about her, and she was stupid enough to delude herself into thinking that he did. Well, of course he did – HE COULDN'T FEEL ANY OTHER WAY ABOUT HER.

Capital letters and large bold print all in flames roared around in her mind as she stumbled, and ran into dancing couples. Some were kissing. That made her feel worse, too busy trying to gulp back sobs to bother to apologise as her aqua sandals thudded against the floor. Everything she did was drowned out by the music – another attempt to hide her from the outside world.

Nobody cares about me. NOBODY EVER CARED ABOUT ME. And if they did, it was all lies, all stupid fantasies. Axel was a lie. Kairi was a lie, Sora was a lie, Riku was a lie, Yuffie was a lie. Yet none of them were as big a lie as her. She hated herself. It felt like worms were crawling under her skin and maggots ready to burst out of her eyes, she was on fire; she was dying amongst all the gyrating bodies dancing to the music. She didn't belong here. She didn't belong anywhere.

She never did.

x.o.x

"Where's Naminé?" he asked, the question buzzing around in her mind over and over, shrill and high, loosing all meaning, lasers boring into her head. He shook her shoulders hard, hard enough to send her flying back, cracking against the wall. "Where the fuck is she?!"

"She's out …" Yuna mumbled helplessly through her broken nose, tears mingling with blood on her face, stinging like salt. Salt on old wounds, pieces of flesh hacked roughly open with fists, as she was thrown to the floor. Picked up. Thrown again. Hit. Pain.

"I'm not saying this again, Yuna. Where **is** she?!" he hissed in a drunken rage, pulling the quivering mess of a woman up to him. She didn't look so pretty with her thin face, anorexic limbs lined with red gashes. She looked sad. She looked dead.

Yuna choked back bile rising to her throat. She was going to be sick. She couldn't betray her daughter … But she had no choice.

"Lenne's … concert …"

"With who?" hissed Shuyin, shaking her pathetic form.

"… A-Axel…"

She regretted her words at once, as Shuyin flung her down in a haze of anger and disgust as if he couldn't bear to touch her again. As if she hurt him one iota compared to what he inflicted on her. She was lying there, lungs heaving, crumpled as they attempted to get in oxygen, letting her breathe … Breathe in and out…

"You let her swan out there like a fucking little whore with the slut's **kid**?" he very lovingly used Tifa's nickname, snorting, only seeing red flickering in his eyes, around him, wanting to force Yuna to see the same red too, to hit her again and again. _She started this, when she and Tifa were more than just 'friends'. He found them that time, and taught Yuna a lesson she wouldn't forget._ Only then it got more out of hand, every time she dared look at somebody else she would need to be taught a lesson. So they moved to Destiny Islands, thinking they could start a new life. A peaceful life.

Nothing was peaceful, surrounded wall to wall with red.

He left, to find his daughter and drag her away from Axel. Just as bad as Tifa, with his girl in the dark slobbering all over her. His princess …

Yuna was left on the floor, drowning in Indigo. Darkness. **Stillness**. _Buried_. A corpse. **Dying.**

**-x-x-x-**

_A/N: Yay. I was listening to Evanescence, 'My Immortal' through writing most of this. It made me feel happy enough to make it angsty. Woah. Now I bet you're all confused. Don't worry. All will be explained in the next chapter. Now, what's Shuyin going to do? Three reviews, please?_

_--Skitts_


	8. o7 : ViOlEt

-.S**k**_etchbo_**o**k.-

"V**i**_ol_**e**t"

o. "Sounds like" vIoLeNcE.AnGeR.HaTe._ x. Flowers in the _**r**a**i**n_ .x _**Acceptance of **_pain_ .o

**-x-x-x-**

His words died on his lips, as he felt the cold metal edges of the object he held reverently in the palm of his hand. The disco lights shimmered around the surfaces as it smoothly changed colours, rainbows bouncing around the walls.

She forgot her lucky charm. Or rather, didn't forget it, but left it behind. He didn't have any doubt that she hadn't meant to, but it had fallen from her pocket when she ran and now he was in possession of it. And if he had previously had any doubts about going after her, they had all been erased from his mind.

The object was a link between them. He had to go after her to give her it back. He would've gone after her anyway, but this cemented it for him. He was meant to follow her, wasn't meant to let her run away – the charm told him that.

He wasn't superstitious and didn't believe in 'luck' and ducking when he saw black cats. But he believed there must have been something special about that metallic papou fruit, as it was trying to bind them together, wasn't going to let her make the biggest mistake of her life.

Wasn't going to let her leave everything behind. Was going to tie her back into the past she couldn't leave, because she was part of it just as much as he was.

o.x.o

"Roxas?" asked Selphie loosely, clicking her fingers light-heartedly to the music. The blond haired boy was envious that she could accomplish that simple action – he never managed to get the hang of it, no matter how many times she told him where to place his thumb and fingers. "What's wrong? You've got this sort of … haunted … look on your face…"

He was haunted, and a minor part of him was amazed that Selphie had registered this. She was never the most … perceptive … of people, never one to notice emotion as acutely as Naminé.

Why was he even comparing Naminé to Selphie, anyway, when they were so different?

"Roxas? Earth to Roxas," she said in a sing-song voice she always adapted when somebody ate the last square of chocolate and she felt it her task to call them a greedy pig. She waved her hands in front of the boy's large cornflower blue eyes, trying to force him back into reality. The reality that was people dancing around and music and flashing lights and Selphie. Selphie didn't like to be ignored, everything about her was _big_ – hair, personality, vibrant clothes, mouth because she talked so much.

Naminé was small and shy, a limp little wallflower hanging in the corner, everything about her tiny and petite and blanched white.

He had seen her with that boy with bright red hair whilst he was Olette and Selphie and Tidus, amongst other moving bodies, laughing and having fun. But when his eyes fell upon his former friend, he noted she wasn't having fun. He knew her so well that every slight change in her behaviour caught his eye, commanded his attention. He knew when she was happy or sad from the curve of her mouth and her eyes and her stance. The odd habits she had, when she played with her hair when she was lost for words and fidgeted from left foot to right when she was scared.

Somehow, Naminé had been drifting apart from him, so when they were once united as a team there were only two separate islands. He was fine, he was connected to the mainland, had a strong chain of friends he could rely on, but Naminé was drifting out to sea. She was lost.

He was worried about her.

He'd seen her run away.

He wondered what she was thinking.

Why she'd run off.

Hell, he was her friend, wasn't he? Even if she was a stray island now - she'd attempted to sever their links of friendship after pretty much ignoring him for a few weeks – he could always wade in and try to get her.

Maybe that was why she preferred the red-head over him – shortly after Naminé had exited the hall, he had run off after her, he wasn't afraid to claim her back when she tried to float away from him, too.

He was going to prove he could be a good friend to her. She was deeper than Selphie, more interesting than Selphie, ultimately kinder and sweeter and nicer and better. Just plain better. She wasn't plain, she was unique, and maybe all the people who had been ignoring her for so long were the plain ones. She was different, and despite all the white she wore it just made her more colourful, because nobody else wore white. It made her stand out because she tried so hard to fit in and just kept getting it wrong. It was sort of ironic really.

She had run off – but he could always run after her. He had missed her gentle company, her dark sense of humour, her sweet reassurance that no matter how crappy life seemed she could always paint a better picture of it.

And Naminé was that perfect picture.

"Do you have a headache?" Selphie asked worriedly, sounding a little bit like an over-protective T.V. mother who wanted to smother her child in bubble-wrap and marshmallow hugs to keep all the germs and illnesses away. Roxas, however, was suddenly thankful that she'd unwittingly conjured up a grand excuse for him to slink away.

"Yeah … A bit …" he mumbled, grabbing his head and placing a slightly pained expression on his face.

Selphie fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Naminé would've have done – she knew Roxas too well to fall for two dimensional lies. She would have persisted in her quest to discover what was really wrong, and then tried to make it all better when she found out. But Naminé wasn't there anymore. She didn't want Roxas in her picture anymore – and that stung. Just a little.

Quite a lot, actually.

"Oh, poor Roxy!" He didn't tell Selphie he hated it when she called him that and always had done. "Is the music too loud?" That was a stupid thing to say – Lenne's music was hardly thumping heavy rock that shook the foundations of houses and made dads complain about it not 'being music, just bloody noise'. "The lights too bright?" Of course, Roxas thought sullenly – I'm _blinded_, Selphie, _blinded_, infact, are you sure you're Selphie and not Olette? Or Tidus?

"Ung … I think I've just got a head-cold. I think I'll be … okay … Owch…"

"Oh no! I can't let my bestest friend be ill at Lenne's concert! It's just not fair!" she proclaimed, throwing her arms up theatrically. She sounded like a little girl, mad because her parents wouldn't let her buy that Barbie Doll in full cheerleader regalia. To be honest, Selphie's whining was actually starting to make Roxas' head pound. Ever so slightly.

"... Maybe I should go home…"

"My poor baby! It must be reaallllly bad if you're willing to miss out on the best event of our teenage lives!" Selphie, as stated before, had a huge mouth and so was not the best equipped to handle somebody who had an alleged headache because she couldn't turn her volume down. And her volume was always LOUD. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

That was easy. "No … I don't want you to miss out on it because of me. I'll walk back, maybe the fresh air'll make me feel better."

Selphie frowned slightly, not wanting to give up on Roxas without a fight. But the current song suddenly changed, and her eyes lit up as it was obviously one of her favourites, and Roxas' head-ache was old, old news. She would rather get up and dance. How convenient.

"Well… Okay… Don't talk to any strangers."

"I won't."

"And don't talk to any strange men!"

"I won't, Selph…"

"And don't get into fist fights! Don't get your poorly ass kicked and head bashed in and your guts spilt all over the floor!"

"I won't, _mother_," he reassured her, injecting a faint sense of humour into his voice. Because her words had sounded comic then. They had sounded funny … Sounded ludicrous.

_Don't get your head_ bashed _in and your_ guts_ spilt all over the floor!_

How ridiculous.

x.o.x

Blonde hair fell around a pale face, strands blowing in an ethereal way in the breeze. The cold was seeping up through the ground to meet her white dress, soaking into the fabric and spreading through her flesh like the plague. She was cold, arms wrapped tightly around her shaking form and large blue eyes down-cast, empty, filled with the ghosts of tears.

She cried a lot.

Tears for Yuna, tears for Shuyin, tears for every one of the people she created and moulded with love and care. Most of the liquid that she shed from the eyeballs was mostly for herself, though. Everything was her fault, after all, so it was reason enough she should drown herself in her sorrow.

Sat on the cold, hard ground underneath the glowing neon lights that flooded the empty street, rain spattering around her – the weather must have known she was coming and the atmosphere morphed into sinister shadows. She even manipulated the _weather_.

Everything she painted with ridden with sadness and pain; when her fingertips ghosted any pure, perfected surface it would mould beneath her gentle touch. She took a clear sheet of paper, unblemished, and struck powerful red and green and black lines over it and made her a friend. A friend she deeply wished she actually had.

Not some silly figment of her imagination.

He seeped like poison into her veins, circulating around her body until her past memories were warped around that one person. Axel was destroying her life, or the fragments that were left of it.

Or maybe she was doing that all for herself.

With a strangled sort of sob, she let her head fall back against the wall, cracking dully. She welcomed the darkness and the cold with open arms – that was where she belonged.

o.x.o

"Naminé! Naminé!" voices, swirling around her in a complex patchwork of patterns, as memories flashed through her hazy mind. She groaned, nausea rolling over her in waves and bile pushing up to the back of her throat. Shoulders were shaken lightly, fingers clasping them in a firm yet gentle and definitely warm and welcome.

Warmth …

It was a change from the cold her body had been subjected to, as she drifted in and out of consciousness through splinters of memory, trying to pick apart the truth and the lies that made up the complex spider web that was her life.

The hands moved down from their position on her shoulders. Her own ones - death like and pale - were taken and squeezed comfortingly. She liked this sensation against the beating of the raindrops that danced all around her, attempting to drive her back to the ground, into her coffin. However, the person holding her wouldn't let her slip out of consciousness, wouldn't loose her _again_, as she pulled against the chest of somebody and arms wrapped around her.

"You're as cold as death, you stupid girl…" the voice berated, not in an angry way but a gentle one, treating her like a china doll. Hard words loaded with poison stings would only shatter her fragile skin and she'd break up.

She registered that voice.

"Mnn… Axel?" she tried.

There was a long pause, silence hanging around them. Naminé wished the boy – it was obviously a boy by the tone of voice and flat chest her head was laying on – would say something. The silence could be cut roughly by a cheese knife. Not that either of them had a cheese knife at hand – she didn't think so, anyway.

"I'm not 'Axel', silly. I'm Roxas," the boy finally spoke, only he wasn't some nameless, faceless 'boy' anymore. He'd given her a name to call him.

Her mind raked through her memories, and although it was firmly fixed on an Axel she didn't know a Roxas, and she wondered if she should be happy or glad it wasn't the red-head. She wondered why she was even sat on the cold floor, anyway, and wouldn't her mother be worried…?

Mother. Yuna. _Flash._

"_You bitch! You expect me to swallow the lies you've been drip-feeding me like poison? I saw you that fucking slut, Yuna – you, my own wife! What about our wedding vows? Didn't they mean anything to you? Or is some prostitute with a huge chest more important?"_

_He was angry. Naminé didn't like it when her daddy got angry. She tip-toed around him cautiously, as if on the ridge of some volcano ready to explode. And boy, had he exploded this time._

_Her friends told her it was only normal for parents to have arguments over who had to clean the dishes or make the salad, and then forget their trouble with a ball game. And that was what all the previous arguments had been, really – niggling little things._

_But she had enough sense to tell her daddy was far madder about this than he had ever been about who cleaned the carpet._

"_Not in front of Naminé! Not in front of my little girl!" Yuna sobbed. She looked odd back then – she didn't have any cuts of bruises and she wasn't covered with blood. She was pretty, she looked like a model with her full lips and large eyes and brunette hair._

"_I think our little girl has every right to hear about what you've been doing behind our backs! You don't 'care' about Naminé! If you did you wouldn't swan off with Tifa… You'd think of your family! Look at us! Look at your fucking family! Make a choice, Yuna – who's more important to you?" He gestured towards the family portrait hung on the wall in all its splendour. It was a nice painting, and Naminé often paused to examine it with a sad little smile on her little-kid face – they all looked so happy. Back then. In another time and another place they were happy, and Yuna could deal with Shuyin's temper tantrums and he was her king and never hit her, not once, and Yuna was a queen and Naminé was their little blonde princess._

"_I love you!"_

"_Love us enough to abandon us for some common tart!"_

"_That's not … I … I … I love you both! I can't help it, Shuyin…" Tears were rolling down her cheeks, her normal smile flipped upside down, and Naminé cowered, attempting to hide herself behind one of the net curtains in the living room. It didn't block her vision, though._

_Shuyin, like an enraged bull, broke his promise. He hit her mummy._

_And that, for the little girl, was like the beginning of the end, the start of a downward spiral. Nothing got better after that, and her daddy was erased from her mind forever as a kind and caring man. She would never call him by that title again, because a daddy didn't hit a mummy. He wasn't he daddy._

_He was just Shuyin. A nightmare._

"Naminé?!" Roxas cried in alarm as the girl muttered something incomprehensible that sounded like: 'No! Don't hit her again!'. He looked down sadly at the writhing girl, years knocked off her age until she wasn't even in double digits anymore.

He just wanted to take some of her pain away.

"Don't worry, Nam, I'm here, I'm your best friend, I'm Roxas … Roxas, remember?"

"Roxas … That's a familiar sound…" muttered the girl, as the dead-weight of her head crushed his chest.

At least she looked peaceful now.

x.o.x

_Her friends cried when she had to leave. She cried when she had to leave, too. So really, nobody was happy. Downward spiral, dragging her under. It was affecting everybody. They asked her why she was going, over and over again until her head hurt from all the questions._

_She didn't know why herself, only that the fight between Shuyin and her mummy had a vital role to play in it. In its most simplistic forms, he hit her and that changed everything, even her house and school and friends and life and personality. In it's most complex form, after the fight they had sat down on the sofa and discussed it as adults and decided it was best if they left all the bad memories behind, put the past behind them and moved on. Adult minds worked in strange ways – they couldn't understand that nothing would be the same again. They could try to bury the past events and shelter Naminé, but she knew that she'd never forget. Even if the memory left, she'd still never call Shuyin her father. Not now. Not ever._

_She asked her why she had to leave for what had to be the thousandth time, and she looked down at her little white shoes and her little feet that pointed inwards like a child's doll and shook her head. She didn't know, didn't want to say._

"_Don't you like us anymore?" asked the red-head, pouting. She was an … unreasonable girl, unquestionably the boss. She wasn't the wisest, or strongest, and, according to the silver-haired one, she was 'only a girl'. But she had appointed herself to the role and it wouldn't change. And she thought, using her six-year-old logic, that she was the boss and if she said Naminé couldn't go she couldn't and that was the end of it._

"_Of course I still like you…"_

"_If you leave, you'll break your promise," she said in a stony way, folding her arms. "Remember when we all swore we'd be together for ever and ever and ever? If you leave we can't do that."_

_Everybody promises things they don't mean. At the wedding Shuyin and mummy promised each other they'd always love each other. Was love what they had shown to Naminé last night? Did love make you hit people, and lie, and up-root everybody's lives and tear little girls away from their home and their best friends?_

_That wasn't love. Naminé wasn't very old but she had a strong perception of what 'love' was, and it wasn't that._

"_I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Naminé said softly, and she saw the cold look on her friend's face and salty tears rolled down her cheeks and she hung her head and cried liked a lily in a flood. And then she cried, and that started a chain reaction and soon he was crying, and he was, and he was, then she was too. Six lonely children, all crying together as they all hugged their friend they'd probably never see again all because of a broken promise. A stupid mistake made by some very stupid adults._

_And Kairi held her friend tightly and said she was sorry for being so horrible – she wasn't mad at Naminé. She was _sad_ at Naminé. Sad for Naminé._

_It didn't matter. In this downwards spiral, everybody was sad around her and sad at her. Kairi was just another name to add onto the list._

o.x.o

"What did you **do** to her?!" yelled the red-head in an accusatory way, pulling fretfully at his red hair in the same way Naminé's sleeping fits caused her to thrash around. He had every right to be worried, as he clutched the blonde's good luck charm and hoped to God it was lucky enough to bring her back from the nightmare she seemed trapped in. She meant everything to him, even though he'd only known her for a little while it felt like he'd known her all her life. An old friend. And when he finally found her, she delirious, rolling around and screaming in a most horrible way in her sleep in the lap of some other boy.

"I didn't do anything to her!" said Roxas in a defensive voice, moving to shield the girl from the lunatic he obviously thought Axel was. The red hair and tattoos wasn't really helping his image as a 'sane' person. He wouldn't, however, have much of that glorious crimson left at the agitated way he pulled at it.

"Then why the fuck's she rolling around like that in the cold?"

"What, are you saying it's **my** fault?!" Roxas shouted, blue eyes blazing with fury, and Axel laughed scornfully. How cute – the little kid was trying to act tough. He was a little like Naminé on that score – he was the stereotypical blond with blue eyes (yet he didn't have boobs, and the stereotypical blonde tended to be female, but he'd let that slide) and he couldn't look angry even he'd wanted.

"It sure looks that way, doesn't it?" Came Axel's curt reply, trying to fight down the anger welling up in his chest as blondie played dumb, feigning innocence. "What have you been feeding her? Crack?"

"You really think I'd feed Naminé drugs? Do I look like a junkie marijuana addict to you?"

"Well, I dunno, the blond hair and stupid expression could be a cover-up. You'd be the perfect person, actually, because nobody would suspect somebody like **you** would feed little girls illegal substances and then try to molest them…"

Roxas' mouth dropped open. The look on his face was priceless, but Axel didn't have time to think about that. He had to think about Naminé. He bent down over her.

"Who the fuck to do you think you are?!" Roxas demanded. "You could be the one feeding her crack and trying to molest her, from the look on your face. Stay away from her! You're not involved!" Naminé was like a little sister to him and he didn't want this junkie-looking, suspicious-looking person to be all over her with that fake look of concern slapped across his face.

Axel's green fluorescent eyes burned, and Roxas flinched slightly. "What the **fuck** do you know?! I'm her boyfriend, of course I'm involved!"

He flinched again, under the pain his words were causing him. Boy … Friend? His little sister – virtually – had a boyfriend? "Why did she run away from you?"

"I don't know… Why the fuck do you care?!"

"She ran away from me, too. I'm … I'm here best friend… Or I was. I don't know what I've done wrong…" Tears clouded Roxas' vision, and he looked away from this stranger who claimed to be Naminé's Romeo, her one-and-only, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he'd struck a nerve. But so many nerves had been struck that night, in the past few minutes, that it wouldn't have made a difference. The atmosphere hung around them, cold and sharp and pointy like an icicle that refused to melt, even under all the heat the hatred drilled into the clear surface.

"… She runs away a lot…" said Axel slowly; choosing his words carefully, both of them eyeing the other, distrust flitting between them like butterflies. And Roxas nodded slowly in recognition, as he felt her cheek, tracing the lines gently with his fingertips. She was burning up.

"I wonder what she's running from…"

"… I think that wherever she's running, she'd like to have this," said Axel, revealing her charm to Roxas' large eyes.

x.o.x

_Naminé sat on one of the large rocks that decorated the rising falls. It was of her 'gang's' little places where they hung out regularly, but this time there was no gang, just Naminé, and this would be the last time she ever sat there and felt like she belonged. She was small compared to all the water rising up to kiss heaven around her – but she had a part in the world around her and fit into her own little nook._

_She was getting pulled out roughly of her piece of heaven and cast into hell. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to be forced to run away._

"_Mind if I sit down here?"_

"_No, not at all," she smiled sadly, as she budged up to make room for the almighty butt of her friend, Axel. She heard a dull thump over the rushing water as his denim pants met the rock surface._

_There was a long pause, silence rushing between them like the cascading water, as the same melancholy smile still played about her young features. "Penny for your thoughts?" Axel's good-natured words injected through the sounds of liquid rising in a phenomenon that probably was based in some boring science-like fact, like climate or something. But they were little and didn't care about _why _things were, but just _how _they were. They didn't need to know about electricity, all they needed to know what that colourful pictures lit up in the TV when a button was pressed, and just marvel at how, because why seemed so unimportant. How the pictures moved in the black box, not why they did that graceful dance._

"_I'm thinkin' that I'm going to miss you…"_

"_What a coincidence – me too," grinned Axel, although the look of mirth was not mirrored in his large, expressive eyes. "I'm going to really, really miss you."_

"_But we'll never forget each other – right?"_

"_That sounds like a promise."_

"_It'll be _our _promise, then," said Naminé in as stern a voice as she could manage, watching that waterfalls sparkle around her, light floating around her milky white dress and hair as she pulled out her lucky charm from her pocket, a cold, metallic papou fruit. She had heard about the properties of the fruit from Kairi in a little-girly conversation, and it seemed strange that love and destiny should be embodied in the yellow plush skin of a fruit. Even stranger that they tried to capture that in a cold object lacking all the worth and pink sugar-spun love cotton candy had. "We'll both hold this and make and promise and that means we can't ever ever break it, and when I get older I'll come back and see you guys and we can all be together again."_

"_You sure?"_

"_We'll make it sure," she said confidently, needing something special to hold onto, some reminder of her friends she was going to leave behind. A reason for her to come back – this was a promise she promised herself she wouldn't break._

_But she should have known better, as the two children held onto the object and wished for something…_

_That some promises you just couldn't keep._

_As the years passed by, Naminé grew up from that little girl. She moved to Destiny Islands and met him, and he was replacement enough for all her old friends. They still lingered in her mind, but she drew them onto paper, getting them out of her head. They aged as she did, becoming no more than imaginary friends, as she reached out for somebody other than Roxas she found Axel and Kairi and Sora and Riku and Yuffie. She drew them all, and their parents, and her school friends, all aged to suit how she wanted them to be._

_Yet she still broke her promise – she never realised who they were. She had no idea how important they were. She had no idea about that promise because she grew out of it, like how Shuyin said he'd always love Yuna and Yuna said she'd be faithful. She had no idea._

_Until …_

o.x.o

**Now.**

Present day flashed before her eyes as they snapped open to be greeted by two faces, staring down at her worriedly, spread across both their laps like a baby.

She couldn't stop the tears, as all the memories tore apart her mind, smashing against it like a sharp rock, making her bleed liquid from her eyeballs. And this time she wasn't as selfish to only cry for herself. She was crying for everybody else she'd allowed herself to forget. Her selfishness was still linked into this, though, because who forget them? She did… And even when they came back into her life so unexpectedly, she had no idea.

She wasn't insane – her drawings hadn't come alive. Her promise had – it brought them back. But she didn't remember, and she had a horrible feeling everything would come crashing down around her.

Promises only brought pain. Why should this one be any different?

x.o.x

"Axel… Why are you here?" she asked softly through her tears, as she sat, shared, in between Roxas and Axel. Both her friends, both very solid and real and important, and she'd run away from them both. Ran away from her promises. They both had their arms around her and both their coats to keep out the cold, although they were shivering. She didn't deserve it.

"I came to give you back your lucky charm. You dropped it."

"You made me remember my promise … Years ago…" She sniffled. She wondered if Axel remembered. "But … Why are you here _now_? Why are you on this island?"

He looked a little surprised at her out-of-the-blue question, but chose to answer it, figuring she must be delirious or something. Her face was a little red, and she did have a temperature – he grazed the back of his right hand swiftly across her forehead to check.

"Well … My old home … Hollow Bastion … Was hit by a hurricane … From the rising falls, these big ass waterfalls that go **up**, all this wind was getting driven from them and spun around. Crashed into the houses, wiped out the city, killed a few people… Most of us escaped, and got sent here… But I thought everybody knew that, it was all over the news."

"I don't watch the news," said Roxas and Naminé simultaneously, and they cast a knowing smile in the other's direction, like looking in the mirror at a reflection. "It's too depressing…" Naminé finished, playing with her blonde hair. "I had no idea. I went sort of crazy…"

"We all know you're crazy, Nam," said Roxas good-naturedly, and the three of them, brought together, laughed softly. As if was something they were meant to do – the three of them were aligned under the same stars or something corny like that and their paths were always meant to intertwine. Roxas and Axel were linked through the lucky charm, through Naminé.

She'd promised Roxas she'd never forget him, too, on the same metal papou fruit.

And they sat and chatted, on the floor in the dark and cold, pools of bright pink and green neon lights washing over them in an unreal way, as Naminé drew Axel and Roxas together, giggling and asking questions and offering quick kisses on the cheek to both of her friends – brought together by one promise.

One promise … She'd forgotten, in her sudden rush of warmth and love that no promise ends well. She'd forgotten about Shuyin. But he hadn't forgotten about her.

o.x.o

He was getting more and more pissed off as he staggered around, looking around for his princess in a drunk haze. He had killed Yuna … It was ringing through his head, and he didn't quite believe it to be true, but it was. He had killed Yuna … He had to get out, before Tifa found out and called the police. Had to run away. Had to get away.

He staggered around, just wanting to rewind and maybe … stop hitting her so hard. But it was too late for regret – it hadn't invaded his cold heart for years, and it suddenly came flowing back like warm hot chocolate pouring through his veins instead of ice. He felt sorry for Yuna. He replayed it again and again, he fragile body falling to the ground, and he had laughed at her, breath scented of beer. Tifa cared about her – maybe she would have been better off if, all those years ago, she had taken Naminé with her to live with Tifa and Axel. Of course she would've been better off – she wouldn't have died.

It was all his fault.

He remembered the wedding, when she was sat in her dress made of frothy white lace and that huge smile and the bouquet and the veil and she had been truly happy. Then the arguments began, small and niggly at first, but they soon expanded. Was that when she ran to find help, ran to Tifa, and made up all those lies? To get away from him …

Well, if he was going to hell for this, he might as well drag Naminé down with him, she was his daughter, and it was like daughter, like father. She would take after her dad – he wanted to have meant something. Naminé was the only person left who meant something in his life. Yuna was too dead to think about Shuyin – she was a good girl. She was probably in heaven with those who cared about her.

Naminé would join him in hell. He was all she had left, she was all he had left. And that was logic. Pure and simple fact.

He didn't know she was just fine without him, and had been for several years, ever since she was six years old. He staggered through the streets, the neon bright lights burning his eyes, as his vision adjusted, resting on three children. Teenagers. Talking and laughing. And to his surprise, his Naminé was one of them.

She was accepted … She had been unhappy for so long, only he was too drunk to realise, eyes sewn shut with hatred. He opened them now, and didn't like what he saw. His Naminé, acting like a slut stringing two boys along, kissing them both and giggling in that short little dress. She made herself fit in by being a slut. Well, she was talking with Tifa's son.

"Naminé!" he screamed, eyes blood-shot, and the threesome all turned their head. Naminé's eyes widened in alarm, as she tried to hide behind Axel and Roxas, who rose like shields. Trying to defend their princess.

They couldn't. Shuyin tore through their defences and yanked Naminé to her feet so hard she swore her arm would come flying form its socket.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Axel, trying in vain to rescue Naminé, as she was roughly dragged away.

"Where are you taking me?!" shouted the girl, her life falling down around her as she struggled, but he was to strong. "Where are we going?!"

"We're leaving…" Shuyin answered curtly, eyes narrowed. "We can't come back. Ever."

"What about mother?"

"Yuna's not coming with us."

"What?!"

"Naminé, be a good girl. We're going," he shouted, spittle landing on her face, as he raised her fists. She shrunk back, and Axel and Roxas both tried to run after her to get her back.

Promises were never meant to be kept.

No matter how hard they ran Naminé knew they would never be able to reach her.

She broke her promises – she ran away from Roxas, she ran away from Axel. Now, when things were looking up, she was forced to run away from both of them.

That was all Naminé could do. Run away. Run further away, deeper into hell, as Shuyin forced her into the back of a cab.

Once she started running, she couldn't stop, even if she wanted to.

Amongst all the jostling, her lucky charm tumbled back out of her pocket, and Axel was left holding it, broken-hearted, eyes wide. Memories were slowly starting to affect him too, or maybe he knew all along and was waiting for her to remember.

When she did, it was too late.

x.o.x

"_You broke your promise, Naminé."_

x.o.x

"_Everybody promises things they don't mean."_

o.x.o

"_Espeically you… Naminé."_

**-The End-**

Ooh. Is sad. And rushed. I like the flash backs. And hopefully all is revealed. My friend Lamatikah forced me to write this cause I was all 'CAN'T BE BOTHERED'. Lol. Poor Axel. Poor Roxas. Poor Naminé. I guess when she remembered her promise it was too late because she'd already broken it. This chapter is 13 pages long … Wonder if there's any significance to this xD. And Nami Axel Roxas friendship is cool – I love it . Review, please!


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